{"slug": "compare-google-trends-terms-in-a-spreadsheet-without-confusing-interest-with", "title": "Compare Google Trends terms in a spreadsheet without confusing interest with search volume", "summary": "A developer has released CleanScrape's Google Trends Scraper on Apify, a tool that returns Google Trends observations as exportable rows for use in spreadsheets and reports. The walkthrough demonstrates comparing ChatGPT and Claude search interest in the US over three months, emphasizing that Trends values are relative interest scores rather than absolute search volumes. The developer notes the example run costs $0.74 at current rates, with pricing stated as of September 15, 2026.", "body_md": "I'm building CleanScrape for people who want to use web data in their own reports and tools. The [Google Trends Scraper](https://apify.com/cleanscrape/google-trends-scraper) is one part of that: it returns Trends observations as rows you can export or retrieve through the API.\n\nFor this post, I'll compare ChatGPT and Claude in a spreadsheet. There is one detail I want to get out of the way first: a Trends value of 100 does not mean 100 searches. It is a relative interest score within the requested comparison. That meaning needs to survive the CSV export.\n\nThis walkthrough uses my paid Actor on Apify. I've included the cost calculation below so you can judge whether it fits your use case.\n\nThis example compares ChatGPT and Claude in the US over the past three months. Open the Actor, switch to JSON input and enter:\n\n```\n{\n  \"searchTerms\": [\"ChatGPT\", \"Claude\"],\n  \"dataTypes\": [\"interest_over_time\"],\n  \"geo\": \"US\",\n  \"timeframe\": \"today 3-m\"\n}\n```\n\nYou need an Apify account, but no Google login. The Actor uses residential Apify Proxy by default for these requests. It accesses Google Trends website endpoints; it is not Google's official API or an affiliated Google product.\n\nI recommend starting with just the timeline. It keeps the output easier to read and avoids paying for result types you are not using yet.\n\nKeep both terms in the same request. Pulling each term independently can give you separately normalized series that are not directly comparable. Also note that these inputs are search terms, not a guarantee that every search relates to a particular company or product.\n\nSet a run spending limit and check the current pricing before selecting Start. You can also find this comparison as an example task on the Actor page.\n\nOnce the run finishes, open Output and export CSV or Excel. Timeline rows include:\n\n| Field | How to use it | \n|---|---|\n| `keyword` | Separate the two series | \n| `date` | Human-readable source date label | \n| `timestamp` | Unix timestamp in seconds, returned as a string | \n| `value` | Relative search interest | \n| `isPartial` | Whether Google marks the interval as partial | \n\nIn your spreadsheet, create a pivot table with date as the rows, keyword as the columns and value as the measure. Sort chronologically; if the imported date labels sort as text, convert them to dates or sort by the numeric timestamp first. Insert a line chart from that table.\n\nUse the pivot only on the timeline rows. If you later request related queries or regional data, filter by `dataType` first. Those rows have different meanings.\n\nThe Actor exports data, not a finished chart. You choose the chart, title and interpretation.\n\nOpen `RUN_REPORT` in the run's key-value store. Each requested feature has its own status and row count. An empty result is not evidence that nobody searched for the term; a failed request is not a zero.\n\nGoogle chooses the returned time intervals. Three months does not guarantee exactly 90 observations. A zero can reflect insufficient data, and a partial interval should not be presented as a completed period without qualification.\n\nI would describe the chart as a comparison of relative search interest, not as a comparison of sales, active users or market share. The export cannot establish those things.\n\nEach keyword at each returned timestamp is one billable row. If Google returns 90 timestamps for two terms, that is 180 rows.\n\nAt the base rate of $0.003 per row, those rows cost $0.54. Startup adds $0.05 per allocated GB, with a minimum of one startup event. With the current 4 GB default, the total for that example is **$0.74**.\n\nThat is a calculation, not a promised row count. Startup is charged even when no rows are returned, and other selected data types add their own rows. Subscription discounts can reduce the rates. Pricing is stated as of 15 September 2026; use the [Pricing tab](https://apify.com/cleanscrape/google-trends-scraper/pricing) for current figures.\n\nIf you are comparing tools, check the cost for the same task. One service may call an entire keyword history a result; another may count each observation. I do not want the per-result headline to obscure that difference.\n\nReplace the two terms with a comparison relevant to your work, keeping the geography and time window consistent. Save the input alongside the export so you can explain what the chart measures later.\n\nThe Actor also supports related queries, regional interest and a current trending-searches feed. Related topics are optional and availability-limited: Google may return no topics even for familiar terms. I would not make a reporting workflow depend on that field always being populated.\n\nThe [full documentation and example tasks](https://apify.com/cleanscrape/google-trends-scraper) are on Apify. I'd be interested to hear what you need after the export: a weekly comparison, a dashboard, or simply a file you can inspect. It helps me understand where the tool is useful and where the next bit of friction is.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/compare-google-trends-terms-in-a-spreadsheet-without-confusing-interest-with", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/cleanscrape/compare-google-trends-terms-in-a-spreadsheet-without-confusing-interest-with-search-volume-4lmm", "published_at": "2026-09-15 15:44:55+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-15 15:49:22.509420+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-tools", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["CleanScrape", "Google Trends Scraper", "Apify", "Google Trends", "ChatGPT", "Claude"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/compare-google-trends-terms-in-a-spreadsheet-without-confusing-interest-with", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/compare-google-trends-terms-in-a-spreadsheet-without-confusing-interest-with.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/compare-google-trends-terms-in-a-spreadsheet-without-confusing-interest-with.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/compare-google-trends-terms-in-a-spreadsheet-without-confusing-interest-with.jsonld"}}