Send Google Trends data to Google Sheets every morning (no pytrends, no 429 errors)

If you have ever tried to pull Google Trends data with code, you probably know this message: pytrends.exceptions.TooManyRequestsError: The request failed: Google returned a response with code 429 pytrends, the library almost everyone used, was archived on GitHub in April 2025. Nobody ships fixes anymore, and Google rate-limits it quickly: it works for a while, then the 429s start. Most articles stop at "pytrends is dead, here are some alternatives". This one solves one concrete job instead: Every morning, put fresh Google Trends numbers for my keywords — plus today's trending searches in my country — into a Google Sheet. No server, no cron job, no proxy management. Then I'll show the same thing in 10 lines of Python for people who prefer code. What we will build A Google Sheet that refreshes itself daily with: Interest over time (0–100) for your keywords, for example chatgpt, claude, gemini Rising related queries — the "Breakout" searches you want to catch early Today's trending searches in a country, with traffic estimates and news links We'll use the Google Trends Scraper on Apify. Disclosure: I built it, because I needed exactly this and got tired of babysitting 429 errors. It handles retries and rotating IPs, and it only charges for results it actually returns. Step 1: Run it once Open the Actor page and click Try for free. The free Apify plan includes $5 of monthly credit, which is enough for this whole tutorial. In Search terms, add your keywords (up to 5 per comparison group). Turn on Compare terms on one chart if you want them on the same 0–100 scale, like on the Trends website. Set Country / region code (e.g. US, GB, DE) and Time range (e.g. Past 30 days). In Trending now: countries, add US (or any country) to also get today's trending searches. Click Start. After a few seconds you get items like this: { "type": "search", "searchTerms": ["chatgpt", "claude", "gemini"], "geo": "US", "interestOverTime": [ { "date": "2026-10-19T00:00:00Z", "values": { "chatgpt": 85, "claude": 24, "gemini": 38 } } ], "relatedQueries": { "gemini": { "rising": [{ "query": "gemini argon 4", "value": "Breakout" }] } } } You can download this as CSV or Excel straight from the Output tab. Step 2: Schedule it Click Actions → Save as a new task, so your keywords and settings are saved. On the task page, open Schedules and create a schedule, for example every day at 07:00. From now on it runs every morning by itself. Step 3: Send results to Google Sheets On the task, open the Integrations tab and add the Google Sheets integration. Connect your Google account, choose a spreadsheet and map the output. After each scheduled run, the new rows land in your sheet. That's it: a self-updating trends dashboard, without writing or hosting any code. From there it's easy to add a chart in Sheets, or let Zapier, Make or n8n post the "Breakout" queries to Slack. The Python version (10 lines) If you'd rather stay in code, the official apify-client package runs the same scraper and gives you the results. Get your API token from Apify Console → Settings → API & Integrations. pip install apify-client from apify_client import ApifyClient client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN") run = client.actor("trendcraft/google-trends-scraper").call(run_input={ "searchTerms": ["chatgpt", "claude", "gemini"], "compareTerms": True, "geo": "US", "timeframe": "today 1-m", "trendingNowGeos": ["US"], }) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): if item["type"] == "search": latest = item["interestOverTime"][-1] print(latest["date"], latest["values"]) else: # trendingNow print(item["rank"], item["title"], item["approxTraffic"]) Load it into pandas with pd.DataFrame(...) and you're back to the workflow you had with pytrends, minus the 429s. When you don't need this To be honest: if you only check a handful of keywords now and then, a free library may be enough. trendspy and trendspyg are maintained alternatives to pytrends and are worth trying first. A hosted scraper makes sense when: the job has to run every day without failing (reports, dashboards, alerts), you track hundreds of keywords, so rate limits hit you constantly, you want results in Sheets, Zapier, Make or n8n without running a server. Cost You pay per result: one result per keyword (or per comparison group of up to 5 keywords) and one per trending search. Current pricing is on the Actor's Pricing tab. Example: a daily run with 5 compared keywords (1 result) plus one country's trending list (about 20 results) is roughly 630 results a month, which is about $3 at $5 per 1,000 results, so it fits inside the free $5 monthly credit. Skip the trending list and it drops to cents. If you try it and something breaks, or you need a field that isn't there, open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab. I read them all. This post was drafted with AI assistance; input names and output fields were checked against the Actor itself.