Google Trends Scraper - Extract Search Trends Data & Regional Interest

Powerful Google Trends API scraper that extracts search trend data, keyword popularity, and regional interest patterns. Analyze up to 100 keywords with automatic batch processing. Perfect for SEO research, market analysis, content strategy, and competitive intelligence.

Quick Start

1. Enter one or more keywords (e.g., "bitcoin", "ethereum", "nft")
2. Select time range (past 3 months recommended)
3. Choose target region (US, worldwide, or 35+ countries)
4. Click "Start" - Results ready in 12-20 seconds per keyword

What You Get

This Apify actor uses Playwright browser automation to scrape Google Trends and extract:

• Search Trend Timeline: Hourly or daily search interest data over your selected time period
• Regional Distribution: Geographic breakdown showing which countries/states have the highest search interest
• Keyword Comparison: Compare up to 5 keywords side-by-side to see relative popularity
• Batch Processing: Analyze up to 100 keywords in a single run with automatic rate limiting

No Google login required. Works with publicly available Google Trends data.

Best Performance: Deploy to Apify Cloud with residential proxies for reliable operation. Local runs may encounter rate limiting.

Features

• Reliable Data Extraction: Playwright browser automation with network API interception
• Flexible Keyword Analysis: 1-100 keywords (comparison mode for 1-5, batch mode for 6-100)
• Historical Data: Access trends from past hour to all available data (2004-present)
• Geographic Targeting: Filter by 35+ countries or analyze worldwide trends
• Multiple Search Types: Web search, image search, news, YouTube, Google Shopping
• Category Filters: Focus on specific industries or topics
• Smart Rate Limiting: Automatic delays in batch mode to avoid blocking
• Error Recovery: Automatic retry for network errors (up to 3 attempts)
• Cloud Optimized: Residential proxy support for Apify Cloud deployment

Use Cases

SEO & Content Marketing

• Track keyword popularity trends to inform content strategy
• Identify seasonal trends for content planning
• Compare competing keywords to prioritize SEO efforts
• Monitor brand mentions and competitor interest over time

Market Research & Analysis

• Analyze product interest trends before launching new products
• Compare market interest across different regions
• Track emerging trends in your industry
• Understand seasonal patterns in customer behavior

Competitive Intelligence

• Monitor competitor brand awareness trends
• Compare multiple brands or products side-by-side
• Track industry buzzwords and emerging technologies
• Identify geographic markets with highest potential

Academic & Data Research

• Study public interest in social phenomena
• Analyze correlation between events and search behavior
• Export data for statistical analysis and visualization
• Track long-term trends in specific topics (2004-present)

Processing Modes

Comparison Mode (1-5 Keywords)

Process 1-5 keywords together in a single request. Google Trends will compare their relative popularity.

Example Input:

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

Result: One dataset item with all keywords compared side-by-side.

Batch Mode (6-100 Keywords)

Process 6-100 keywords individually in separate requests. Each keyword is analyzed independently.

Example Input:

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

Result: Six separate dataset items, one for each keyword.

Note: Batch mode includes automatic delays (2-3 seconds) between requests to avoid rate limiting. Processing time increases linearly with keyword count.

Input Parameters

Required

keywords (array of strings)

• 1-100 keywords to analyze
• 1-5 keywords: Comparison mode
• 6-100 keywords: Batch mode

Example: ["artificial intelligence", "machine learning"]

Optional

timeRange (string, default: "today 3-m")

Available options:

• "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
• "today 12-m" - Past year
• "today 5-y" - Past 5 years
• "all" - All available data (2004-present)

geo (string, default: "US")

2-letter country code (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2):

• "US" - United States
• "GB" - United Kingdom
• "DE" - Germany
• "JP" - Japan
• "" - Worldwide (empty string)

Full list of 36 supported countries available in the input dropdown.

searchType (string, default: "")

Filter by search type:

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

category (integer, default: 0)

Filter by topic category:

• 0 - All categories (default)
• 3 - Arts & Entertainment
• 5 - Computers & Electronics
• 7 - Finance
• 8 - Food & Drink
• 12 - Health

See Google Trends for the complete category list.

includeRegionalInterest (boolean, default: true)

Set to false to skip regional data collection and only extract timeline data.

maxResults (integer, default: 25, range: 1-50)

Maximum number of regions to extract per keyword. Higher values provide more geographic coverage.

Output Format

Each successful request creates one dataset item:

{
  "keywords": ["artificial intelligence"],
  "timeRange": "today 3-m",
  "geo": "US",
  "category": 0,
  "searchType": "",

  "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": "2025-10-05T12:00:00.000Z",
  "sourceUrl": "https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=..."
}

Understanding the Data

Interest Values (0-100)

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

Multi-Keyword Comparison When comparing multiple keywords, values are normalized to the most popular term across all keywords.

Regional Data

• Shows geographic distribution of search interest
• Each keyword has its own regional breakdown
• Regions are sorted by interest level (highest first)

Examples

Single Keyword

{
  "keywords": ["bitcoin"]
}

Multi-Keyword Comparison

{
  "keywords": ["python", "javascript", "rust"],
  "timeRange": "today 12-m"
}

Global Trends

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

YouTube Trends

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

Category Filter

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

Batch Processing

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

Performance

Execution Time:

• Single keyword: Approximately 12-20 seconds
• Batch mode: Approximately 12-20 seconds per keyword (due to rate limiting)
• 50 keywords: ~10-17 minutes
• 100 keywords: ~20-34 minutes

Actual time varies based on:

• Selected time range (longer ranges may take more time)
• Network conditions
• Google Trends server response time

Memory Usage:

• Minimum: 512 MB
• Recommended: 2 GB (set in actor configuration)

Rate Limiting:

• Batch mode includes 2-3 second delays between requests
• Network error retry: up to 3 attempts per request

Limitations

Data Collection:

• Maximum 100 keywords per run
• Maximum 5 keywords for comparison mode (Google Trends API limitation)
• Maximum 50 regions per keyword
• Related queries and related topics are not currently extracted

Data Accuracy:

• Google Trends values are relative, not absolute search volumes
• Very low-volume keywords may return sparse or empty data
• Recent data (past few hours) may still be processing on Google's side
• Data granularity decreases with longer time ranges (e.g., "all time" shows monthly data instead of daily)

Technical:

• All data labels are in English (fixed language setting)
• Batch mode processing time scales linearly with keyword count
• Regional data may be empty for keywords without geographic variation

Troubleshooting

Rate limiting errors (429)

This occurs when Google Trends blocks requests due to too many attempts. Solutions:

• Deploy to Apify Cloud (residential proxies are automatically configured)
• Wait a few minutes before trying again locally
• Use fewer keywords per run

No timeline data returned

Possible causes:

• Keyword has insufficient search volume
• Keyword may be misspelled
• Time range may be too narrow for a niche topic
• Rate limiting (check for 429 errors in logs)

Try:

• Use a more popular keyword
• Extend the time range
• Check keyword spelling
• Deploy to Apify Cloud for better reliability

Empty regional data

Possible causes:

• Keyword lacks regional variation
• Search volume is too low for regional breakdown

Try:

• Increase maxResults parameter
• Use a more popular keyword
• Try a different geographic region

Timeout or network errors

The actor automatically retries network errors up to 3 times. If errors persist:

• Check Apify platform status
• Try reducing the number of keywords
• Try a shorter time range

Batch mode taking longer than expected

Batch mode includes rate limiting delays (2-3 seconds per keyword). Expected times:

• 10 keywords: ~2-3 minutes
• 50 keywords: ~10-17 minutes
• 100 keywords: ~20-34 minutes

This is expected behavior to avoid triggering Google's rate limits.

Some keywords failed in batch mode

Batch mode continues processing even if individual keywords fail. Check:

• Dataset for successfully processed keywords
• Run log for error details on failed keywords
• Common causes: insufficient search volume, misspelled keywords

You can create a new run with only the failed keywords.

Support

For issues or questions:

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