# Google Trending Now (`stephen-56/google-trending-now`) Actor

Get today's trending Google searches for any country, with approximate search volume and the news stories behind each trend.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/stephen-56/google-trending-now.md
- **Developed by:** [Stephen Sievertsen](https://apify.com/stephen-56) (community)
- **Categories:** News, SEO tools, Marketing
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 trends

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Google Trending Now

Get the searches that are **trending on Google right now** in any country, with approximate search volume and the news stories driving each trend.

The data comes from Google's public "Trending now" RSS feed, so runs are fast, cheap and don't need proxies.

Unlike a plain feed reader, this Actor **remembers what it has seen between runs**. Every trend comes with whether it's new, how long it has been trending and how its search volume has moved since the last run. Schedule it and you get a running history of trends, which the feed itself doesn't provide.

### What you get

One row per trending search:

| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| `country` | `US` |
| `rank` | `1` |
| `query` | `saquon barkley trade rumors giants eagles` |
| `approxTraffic` | `500+` |
| `approxTrafficMin` | `500` (number, handy for sorting) |
| `publishedAt` | `2026-10-26T10:10:00-07:00` |
| `picture`, `pictureSource` | Thumbnail and its publisher |
| `newsCount`, `topNewsTitle`, `topNewsSource` | Headline story at a glance |
| `news` | All linked articles: title, source, URL, picture |
| `exploreUrl` | Link to the term in Google Trends Explore |
| `isNew` | `true` the first time a trend is seen |
| `firstSeenAt`, `hoursTrending` | When it first appeared and how long it has been on the list |
| `timesSeen` | How many runs it has appeared in |
| `previousTrafficMin`, `trafficChange` | Search volume at the last run and the change since |
| `peakTrafficMin` | Highest volume seen so far |

#### Sample run (US, October 2026)

| Rank | Search | Approx. searches | New? | Hours trending | Top story |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bunny shaw | 500+ | yes | 0.0 | Manchester City FC |
| 2 | kevin zeitler | 500+ | yes | 0.0 | Yahoo Sports |
| 3 | eli stowers | 500+ | yes | 0.0 | NBC Sports |

One row as JSON (news list shortened):

```json
{
  "country": "US",
  "rank": 1,
  "query": "bunny shaw",
  "approxTraffic": "500+",
  "approxTrafficMin": 500,
  "publishedAt": "2026-10-26T13:40:00-07:00",
  "newsCount": 3,
  "topNewsTitle": "Bunny is working hard on all aspects of her game – Jeglertz",
  "topNewsSource": "Manchester City FC",
  "news": [{ "title": "…", "source": "…", "url": "…", "picture": "…" }],
  "isNew": true,
  "hoursTrending": 0.0,
  "timesSeen": 1,
  "previousTrafficMin": null,
  "trafficChange": null,
  "peakTrafficMin": 500
}
```

On later runs a returning trend shows `isNew: false`, a growing `hoursTrending`, and `trafficChange` (for example `1500` when it climbs from 500+ to 2K+).

Download results as CSV, Excel, JSON or XML, or fetch them through the Apify API.

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| **Countries** | Two-letter codes such as `US`, `GB`, `DE`, `IN`, `BR`, or `ALL` for ~60 major countries. Unsupported codes are skipped with a warning. |
| **Only new trends** | Save only trends not seen in earlier runs. |
| **Minimum searches** | Skip trends below this volume, e.g. `1000`. |
| **Include news articles** | Adds the full `news` list to every row. |
| **Max trends per country** | Optional cap. |
| **History name** | Which saved history to use. Give each schedule its own name to track separately. |
| **Forget trends after (days)** | Trends unseen this long are forgotten and count as new if they return. Default 7. |

### Recipes

- **Breaking-trend alerts:** schedule hourly with *Only new trends* on and *Minimum searches* `10000`, then connect the Slack or email integration in Apify Console. You're pinged only about big new trends.
- **Daily digest:** schedule once a day with *Countries* set to the markets you care about and send the dataset to Google Sheets.
- **Trend research:** run every few hours with *Only new trends* off. `hoursTrending` and `peakTrafficMin` show which topics last and which fade fast.

### Use cases

- Spot breaking topics for content, newsletters and social posts
- Feed a trends digest into Slack, Google Sheets or an AI agent
- Compare what's trending across countries

**Want to know which trends are real?** [Cross-Platform Trends](https://apify.com/stephen-56/cross-platform-trends) checks each Google trend against Wikipedia, Bluesky and YouTube and keeps only the topics trending on several platforms at once.

### Notes

- History is kept in a named key-value store in your account, so it survives between runs. Two runs using the same history name at the same time can overwrite each other's updates, so give overlapping schedules different names.
- Tracking covers every trend the feed returns, even ones filtered out of the results, so history stays complete whatever filters you use.
- If Google asks the Actor to slow down, it waits and retries a few times, then skips that country and moves on.

### Run locally

```bash
python -m src
```

Input is read from `storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json`; results land in `storage/datasets/default/`.

# Actor input Schema

## `countries` (type: `array`):

Two-letter country codes, e.g. US, GB, DE, IN, BR. Enter ALL to get ~60 major countries in one run.

## `onlyNew` (type: `boolean`):

Save only trends that weren't seen in earlier runs. Ideal for scheduled runs that feed alerts (Slack, email, webhooks).

## `minTraffic` (type: `integer`):

Skip trends below this approximate search count, e.g. 1000 keeps only '1K+' and bigger.

## `includeNews` (type: `boolean`):

Add the news stories Google links to each trend (title, source, URL, picture).

## `maxItemsPerCountry` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many trends for each country. Leave empty to get everything the feed offers.

## `historyName` (type: `string`):

Name of the storage that remembers trends between runs. Use a different name for each schedule that should track separately.

## `forgetAfterDays` (type: `integer`):

Trends not seen for this many days are forgotten, so if they come back they count as new.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "countries": [
    "US",
    "GB"
  ],
  "onlyNew": false,
  "minTraffic": 0,
  "includeNews": true,
  "historyName": "google-trending-now-history",
  "forgetAfterDays": 7
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `trends` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "countries": [
        "US",
        "GB"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("stephen-56/google-trending-now").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "countries": [
        "US",
        "GB",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("stephen-56/google-trending-now").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "countries": [
    "US",
    "GB"
  ]
}' |
apify call stephen-56/google-trending-now --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,stephen-56/google-trending-now"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/EzTreVDYHFhEm1AjH/builds/8xSf8qFECceXTnXvg/openapi.json