Keyword Research for AI Agents: Google Trends + Autocomplete

What does it do?

Give it one or more seed keywords and a country. For each seed you get one compact JSON result that combines:

• Keyword ideas from Google Autocomplete: the seed itself, question words (what, how, why, is, can, best), modifiers (vs, for, near) and the alphabet (seed + a ... z). Duplicates are merged.
• Google Trends for the seed: average, latest and peak interest, the overall direction (rising, falling, stable), recent momentum and whether interest is spiky or seasonal, for the past 12 months by default.
• Top and rising related searches from Google Trends, with growth % and the "Breakout" flag.
• Optionally, a Trends comparison of the seed with its top suggestions on one shared 0-100 scale.
• A short plain-English summary an AI agent can quote directly.

It needs no Google account and no API key. Use it as a free-standing Google Trends API alternative for keyword ideas, or plug it into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client as a keyword research tool.

What it is not

This Actor does not return absolute monthly search volume or CPC. Google Trends values are relative interest (0-100), and Autocomplete shows what people type, not how often. If you need volume numbers, use a Keyword Planner based tool next to this one.

How to use it

1. Click Try for free and sign in to Apify (a free account works).
2. Add your Seed keywords, e.g. electric bike.
3. Set the Country (US, GB, DE, RO ...; UK also works) and the Language (en, de, ro ...).
4. Pick the Autocomplete depth: basic, questions or full (default).
5. Click Start. Download results as JSON, CSV or Excel. Choose Output mode: flat for one row per keyword in a spreadsheet.

Input example

{
  "keywords": ["electric bike", "cargo bike"],
  "country": "US",
  "language": "en",
  "timeRange": "today 12-m",
  "expansion": "full",
  "compareTopSuggestions": 2,
  "maxKeywordsPerSeed": 100,
  "outputMode": "compact"
}

Field	What it does	Default
keywords	Seed phrases, one result each (max 100 per run). Always pass your own; the default is only a demo	["electric bike"]
country	2-letter code, "" = worldwide	US
language	Language of suggestions and question words	en
timeRange	Trends period: now 7-d, today 1-m, today 3-m, today 12-m, today 5-y, all	today 12-m
customTimeRange	Exact period YYYY-MM-DD YYYY-MM-DD (overrides timeRange)	–
expansion	basic (2 lookups), questions (~11), full (~37)	full
includeTrends	Add Google Trends data	true
compareTopSuggestions	Compare the seed with 0-4 top ideas on one Trends scale	0
maxKeywordsPerSeed	Cap on the merged keyword list	100
outputMode	compact (one result per seed) or flat (one row per keyword)	compact
questionPrefixes, modifierSuffixes	Your own words instead of the built-in lists	built-in

Built-in question and modifier words exist for English, Romanian, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Polish. Other languages fall back to English words; pass your own with questionPrefixes and modifierSuffixes.

Output

In compact mode each seed gives one item (shortened):

{
  "type": "keyword_research",
  "seed": "electric bike",
  "geo": "US",
  "language": "en",
  "timeRange": "today 12-m",
  "expansion": "full",
  "summary": "\"electric bike\" (US, past 12 months): Google Trends interest trended up over the period (+35% fitted change); average 30.7/100, latest 13/100, peak in the period starting 2026-04-12. Recent momentum is down (-66% for the latest quarter of the period vs the quarter before). Interest is spiky or seasonal (peak is 3x+ the average). Found 337 related keywords (showing 99); 50 of those shown are questions. Rising searches: \"yozma in 10\" (Breakout), \"yozma\" (+3950%), \"electric mini bike\" (+300%). Top autocomplete ideas: \"electric bike for adults\", \"electric bike for kids\", \"electric bikes for sale\", \"electric bikes near me\", \"electric bikes at walmart\". Common questions: \"what electric bikes are street legal\", \"what electric bike should i buy\", \"what electric bike has the longest range\". Trends values are relative (0-100), not absolute search volumes.",
  "trends": {
    "status": "ok",
    "interest": {
      "average": 30.7,
      "latest": 13,
      "latestDate": "2026-10-18",
      "peak": 100,
      "peakDate": "2026-04-12",
      "low": 10,
      "direction": "rising",
      "trendChangePercent": 35,
      "recentChangePercent": -66,
      "recentMomentum": "down",
      "slopePerPoint": 0.208,
      "pointCount": 52,
      "isSpiky": true
    },
    "topQueries": [
      {
        "query": "electric dirt bike",
        "value": 100
      },
      {
        "query": "dirt bike",
        "value": 97
      },
      {
        "query": "electric mini bike",
        "value": 50
      }
    ],
    "risingQueries": [
      {
        "query": "yozma in 10",
        "growthPercent": null,
        "isBreakout": true
      },
      {
        "query": "yozma",
        "growthPercent": 3950,
        "isBreakout": false
      },
      {
        "query": "electric mini bike",
        "growthPercent": 300,
        "isBreakout": false
      }
    ],
    "trendsUrl": "https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=electric%20bike&date=today%2012-m&geo=US"
  },
  "comparison": null,
  "keywordCount": 100,
  "keywordsFoundBeforeCap": 338,
  "autocompleteIdeaCount": 100,
  "questionCount": 50,
  "keywords": [
    {
      "keyword": "electric bike",
      "sources": [
        "seed",
        "autocomplete"
      ],
      "foundVia": "seed",
      "autocompletePosition": 1,
      "isQuestion": false,
      "wordCount": 2,
      "trendsAverage": 30.7,
      "trendsLatest": 13,
      "trendsDirection": "rising"
    },
    {
      "keyword": "electric bike for adults",
      "sources": [
        "autocomplete"
      ],
      "foundVia": "seed",
      "autocompletePosition": 1,
      "isQuestion": false,
      "wordCount": 4
    },
    {
      "keyword": "electric bike for kids",
      "sources": [
        "autocomplete"
      ],
      "foundVia": "seed",
      "autocompletePosition": 2,
      "isQuestion": false,
      "wordCount": 4
    },
    {
      "keyword": "what electric bikes are street legal",
      "sources": [
        "autocomplete"
      ],
      "foundVia": "prefix:what",
      "autocompletePosition": 1,
      "isQuestion": true,
      "wordCount": 6
    },
    {
      "keyword": "fat tire electric bike",
      "sources": [
        "trends_top",
        "trends_rising"
      ],
      "foundVia": "trends_top",
      "isQuestion": false,
      "wordCount": 4,
      "trendsTopValue": 30,
      "trendsRisingPercent": 250
    }
  ],
  "warnings": [],
  "note": "Trends values are relative interest (0-100, 100 = peak in this period/location), not search volumes.",
  "dataSources": [
    "google_autocomplete",
    "google_trends"
  ],
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-28T16:50:00+00:00"
}

Main fields:

• summary: plain-English overview, safe to quote.
• trends.status: ok, no_data (term too rare for Trends), failed (see warnings) or skipped.
• trends.interest: average, latest, peak, peakDate, low, direction (rising / falling / stable, from a straight-line fit over the period; too_low or no_data when values are near zero), trendChangePercent, recentChangePercent and recentMomentum (latest quarter of the period vs the quarter before), isSpiky.
• keywordCount, keywordsFoundBeforeCap, autocompleteIdeaCount, questionCount: quick counts.
• comparison: only with compareTopSuggestions > 0; the seed and its top ideas on one shared 0-100 scale (averages, latest, directions).
• keywords: the merged, deduplicated list. The seed comes first, then Autocomplete ideas in the order found, then queries that only Google Trends returned.
• warnings: anything that went wrong but did not stop the result, e.g. Trends rate-limited.

Fields of each keyword (the same names in both output modes):

Field	Meaning
keyword	The search phrase
sources	seed, autocomplete, trends_top, trends_rising
foundVia	Which lookup found it first: seed, prefix:how, suffix:vs, alphabet:a, trends_top, trends_rising
autocompletePosition	Best position in an Autocomplete list (1 = first)
isQuestion	Starts with a question word or ends with ?
wordCount	Number of words
trendsTopValue	Value in Trends "top" related queries (0-100)
trendsRisingPercent	Growth % in Trends "rising" related queries
isBreakout	Trends shows "Breakout" (growth above 5000%)
trendsAverage, trendsLatest, trendsDirection	Set for the seed, and for compared keywords on a shared scale

In compact mode, empty optional fields (null or false) are left out to save tokens. In flat mode every row has all columns, plus seed, rank and the seed's Trends numbers (seedAverage, seedLatest, seedDirection, seedTrendChangePercent). The summary and warnings are on the first row of each seed.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

This Actor works as a ready-made tool for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code and other MCP clients through the official Apify MCP server. The agent gets one tool, cleandata-labs--seo-keyword-research-for-agents, with the input fields above. You pay the normal pay-per-event price from your Apify account.

MCP server URL with only this Actor:

https://mcp.apify.com?tools=cleandata-labs/seo-keyword-research-for-agents

On first connection your client opens the Apify sign-in (OAuth). To use an API token instead, send the header Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>.

Claude (claude.ai and Claude Desktop): Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. Name: Keyword Research, Remote MCP server URL: the URL above.

Claude Desktop with a local config file (claude_desktop_config.json, needs Node.js 18+):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "keyword-research": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@apify/actors-mcp-server", "--tools", "cleandata-labs/seo-keyword-research-for-agents"],
      "env": { "APIFY_TOKEN": "<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>" }
    }
  }
}

Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "keyword-research": { "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=cleandata-labs/seo-keyword-research-for-agents" }
  }
}

Claude Code:

$claude mcp add --transport http keyword-research "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=cleandata-labs/seo-keyword-research-for-agents"

VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json):

{
  "servers": {
    "keyword-research": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=cleandata-labs/seo-keyword-research-for-agents" }
  }
}

Tips for agents

• Smallest useful input: {"keywords": ["electric bike"], "country": "US"}.
• One seed with expansion: "full" usually takes 20-40 seconds, longer if Google slows down Trends. For a quick answer use expansion: "questions" or "basic", or includeTrends: false.
• Quote the summary field, then use keywords for details. Filter isQuestion: true for FAQ and content ideas, and trendsRisingPercent / isBreakout for what is growing.
• Keep maxKeywordsPerSeed around 30-50 if context space matters.
• Trends numbers are relative interest, not search volume. Say so when you report them.

Example prompts

1. "Use the keyword research tool for "electric bike" in the US. Is interest growing, and which questions do people ask most?"
2. "Find keyword ideas for "cafea" in Romania (language ro) and list the 10 most useful ones for a coffee shop blog."
3. "Compare "air fryer" with its top 3 suggestions on Google Trends in the UK over the past 5 years."

How much does it cost?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing. You pay only for what you get:

Event	Price	When
Keyword ideas (one seed)	$0.002	The seed returned Autocomplete ideas
Google Trends insights (one seed)	$0.002	The seed returned Trends data

So a full result costs $0.004 per seed keyword ($4 per 1,000), and a seed where Google Trends failed costs $0.002. Error rows and seeds with no data at all are free. The flat output mode costs the same as compact. Apify also charges its standard Actor start event ($0.00005 per run).

Set a maximum cost per run in the run options. The Actor checks the limit before each seed and stops cleanly when it is reached.

Reliability

• Apify Proxy is on by default. Rate-limited requests (HTTP 429/403) are retried with a new session and IP, with growing pauses. If the proxy itself is refused, the run continues without it.
• If Google Trends keeps refusing, you still get the Autocomplete ideas, with a clear warning and a lower price.
• For large batches (more than ~20 seeds), use the Residential proxy group and keep the default delays.

Limitations

• No absolute search volume, CPC or keyword difficulty.
• Autocomplete suggestions are personalised and change over time; results can differ slightly between runs.
• The a-z expansion is designed for Latin alphabets.
• Google Trends may have no data for rare or long-tail phrases (trends.status: "no_data").
• Uses public, unofficial Google endpoints, which Google can change without notice.

Is it legal?

The Actor reads public, aggregated data that Google shows to any visitor (Autocomplete suggestions and Google Trends). It does not log in and does not collect personal data. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google. Check Google's Terms of Service and the law that applies to you, and ask a lawyer if you are unsure. You are responsible for how you use the data.

FAQ

Is this the official Google Trends API? No. Google's official Trends API is in limited alpha. This Actor reads the public trends.google.com website and the public Autocomplete endpoint.

Do I need an API key? No Google key. You need an Apify account to run it.

Why is latest low when direction is rising? direction describes the whole period (a straight-line fit). recentMomentum describes the last part of it. Seasonal terms, like bikes in autumn, can be up over the year and down right now; the summary mentions both.

Can I add search volume later? The output is designed so a volume source can be added as extra fields without renaming anything.