Google Trends Scraper - Timeline & Regional Data

Track search interest trends over time and analyze regional distribution patterns. Extract timeline data (daily/hourly) and geographic insights for up to 100 keywords to understand market demand and search behavior.

Features

• Interest Over Time: Track search volume trends with daily/hourly granularity
• Regional Distribution: See which US states or countries show the most interest (up to 50 regions)
• Dual Processing Modes: Comparison mode (1-5 keywords) or batch mode (6-100 keywords)
• Flexible Time Ranges: From past hour to all historical data (2004-present)
• No Login Required: Scrapes public Google Trends data directly
• Built-in Rate Limiting: Automatic delays prevent throttling in batch mode

Use Cases

Perfect for:

• 📊 Market Research - Identify trending topics, seasonal patterns, and demand cycles
• 🔍 SEO & Content Strategy - Track keyword interest to optimize content timing
• 🏆 Competitive Analysis - Compare brand/product search interest over time
• 🌍 Geographic Insights - Discover which regions show highest search demand
• 📈 Trend Forecasting - Analyze historical patterns to predict future trends
• 💼 Business Intelligence - Data-driven decision making for product launches

Processing Modes

Comparison Mode (1-5 Keywords)

When you provide 1-5 keywords, all keywords are processed together in a single request, allowing you to compare their relative popularity directly. Google Trends shows how each keyword performs relative to the others.

Example:

{
  "keywords": ["iphone", "samsung", "google pixel"]
}

Output: Single dataset with all three keywords compared side-by-side in timeline and regional data.

Batch Mode (6-100 Keywords)

When you provide 6-100 keywords, each keyword is processed individually in separate requests. This mode is ideal for analyzing many keywords independently without comparison.

Features:

• Each keyword processed separately (no cross-comparison)
• Automatic rate limiting (2-3 second delays between requests)
• Continues processing even if individual keywords fail
• Each keyword result saved separately to the dataset

Example:

{
  "keywords": ["bitcoin", "ethereum", "dogecoin", "cardano", "solana", "polkadot", "ripple", "litecoin"]
}

Output: Eight separate dataset items, one for each keyword with its own timeline and regional data.

Important Notes:

• Batch mode takes longer (each keyword adds ~12-17 seconds)
• Failed keywords are logged but don't stop processing
• Use batch mode for large-scale keyword research or monitoring

Input Parameters

Required

Keywords

• Array of 1-100 keywords to analyze
• 1-5 keywords: Comparison mode (all compared together)
• 6-100 keywords: Batch mode (each processed separately)
• Example: ["artificial intelligence", "machine learning"]

Optional

Time Range (default: today 3-m)

• now 1-H - Past hour
• now 4-H - Past 4 hours
• now 1-d - Past day
• now 7-d - Past week
• today 1-m - Past month
• today 3-m - Past 3 months (recommended)
• today 12-m - Past year
• today 5-y - Past 5 years
• all - All time (2004-present)

Region (default: US)

• 2-letter country code: US, GB, DE, JP, CN, etc.
• Leave empty "" for worldwide data

Search Type (default: Web Search)

• "" - Web Search
• images - Image Search
• news - News Search
• youtube - YouTube Search
• froogle - Google Shopping

Category (default: 0 - All categories)

• 0 - All categories
• 3 - Arts & Entertainment
• 5 - Computers & Electronics
• 7 - Finance
• 8 - Food & Drink
• 12 - Health
• See Google Trends for more

Output Format

{
  "keywords": ["artificial intelligence"],
  "timeRange": "today 3-m",
  "geo": "US",

  "timelineData": [
    {
      "timestamp": "1704585600",
      "formattedTime": "Jan 7 – 13, 2024",
      "values": {
        "artificial intelligence": 100
      }
    }
  ],

  "regionalInterest": [
    {
      "keyword": "artificial intelligence",
      "regions": [
        {
          "geoCode": "US-CA",
          "geoName": "California",
          "value": 100,
          "formattedValue": "100"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],

  "collectedAt": "2025-10-04T12:00:00.000Z",
  "sourceUrl": "https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=..."
}

Quick Start Examples

Single Keyword

{
  "keywords": ["bitcoin"]
}

Multi-Keyword Comparison

{
  "keywords": ["iphone", "samsung", "google pixel"],
  "timeRange": "today 12-m"
}

Global Trends

{
  "keywords": ["climate change"],
  "timeRange": "today 5-y",
  "geo": ""
}

YouTube Search Trends

{
  "keywords": ["tutorial"],
  "searchType": "youtube",
  "timeRange": "today 1-m"
}

Category-Specific (Tech)

{
  "keywords": ["javascript", "python", "rust"],
  "category": 5
}

Batch Mode (Large-Scale Analysis)

{
  "keywords": [
    "artificial intelligence",
    "machine learning",
    "deep learning",
    "neural networks",
    "natural language processing",
    "computer vision",
    "reinforcement learning",
    "generative ai"
  ],
  "timeRange": "today 3-m"
}

Understanding the Data

Interest Values (0-100)

• Relative Scale: Values represent search interest relative to the highest point
• 100 = Peak popularity in the selected time/location
• 50 = Half as popular as the peak
• 0 = Less than 1% of peak popularity

Multi-Keyword Comparison

When comparing keywords, all values are normalized to the most popular term. If "AI" peaks at 100, and "ML" reaches 50 at the same time, ML had half the search volume of AI.

Regional Data

• Shows where searches are most concentrated
• Normalized within each keyword (highest region = 100)
• Empty regions indicate insufficient search volume

Performance

• ⚡ Execution Time: Typically 12-17 seconds (varies by keyword complexity and time range)
• 💾 Memory Usage: 512 MB minimum, 2 GB recommended
• 🚦 Rate Limits: Built-in delays prevent throttling
• 🔄 Retry Logic: Automatic retry on network errors (up to 3 attempts)

Best Practices

1. Start Broad: Use popular keywords to get reliable data
2. Compare Similar Terms: Compare related topics for meaningful insights
3. Choose Appropriate Time Range: Longer ranges show overall trends, shorter ones show recent changes
4. Regional Analysis: Set specific geo codes for local market research
5. Respect Limits: Avoid excessive concurrent requests

Limitations

• Keyword Limit: Maximum 100 keywords per request (1-5 for comparison, 6-100 for batch mode)
• Batch Mode Performance: Processing 100 keywords takes ~20-25 minutes due to rate limiting
• Comparison Limit: Only 1-5 keywords can be compared together (Google Trends API limit)
• Data Granularity: Longer time ranges have less granular data points (weekly/monthly vs hourly/daily)
• Niche Topics: Very low-volume keywords may return sparse or no data
• Recent Data: Data from the past few hours may still be processing
• English Interface: All data labels are in English
• Related Queries/Topics: Currently not available due to Google Trends API structure changes (returns empty data)

Troubleshooting

No timeline data returned

• Verify keywords have sufficient search volume
• Try a more popular keyword or broader time range
• Check spelling and formatting

Empty regional results

• Keyword may not have regional variation
• Try increasing maxResults parameter
• Use more popular search terms

Timeout errors

• Automatic retry is enabled (up to 3 attempts)
• Try shorter time range or fewer keywords
• Check Apify platform status

Batch mode taking too long

• Expected: ~12-17 seconds per keyword with rate limiting
• For 50 keywords: ~10-15 minutes total
• For 100 keywords: ~20-25 minutes total
• Check run logs to see current progress

Some keywords failed in batch mode

• Check dataset for successfully processed keywords
• Failed keywords are logged with error details
• Common causes: misspelled keywords, insufficient search volume
• You can re-run with only the failed keywords

Support

For issues or questions:

1. Check input parameters match the format above
2. Review run logs for specific error messages
3. Contact Apify support with run ID for assistance