Pass source google news for a news-search index, or type Google News Top News for the live headline board. The two strings are not interchangeable.
Live data as of 2026-09-21
A google news vs Google News Top News comparison on Trends MCP is two different tools. Source google news on get_growth or get_time_series returns a 0-100 news-search series for one keyword. Type Google News Top News on get_top_trends returns ranked headline strings and takes no keyword. From the September 21, 2026 pull (as_of 2026-09-21T06:01:34 UTC), rank 23 named Presley Gerber and the shortened token closed at google news index 0.0 on recent_date 2026-09-19. Rank 17 Nvidia closed at 7.0 on the same date after a series peak of 100.0 on 2026-08-29. Pasting a full headline printed index 0.0. Mixing the two strings is a 400.
The September 21, 2026 board is the split that still matters next month: live rank is a headline list stamped this morning, google news can close on 2026-09-19, and a name on the board can sit at index 0.0. Omitting limit returned limit 25, count 25, offset 0, as_of_ts 2026-09-21T06:01:34.953912+00:00. Rank 1 named ICE in Austin. Rank 16 named Federal Reserve. Rank 17 named Nvidia. Rank 20 named iPhone 18 Pro. Rank 23 named Presley Gerber. Rank 24 named Ed Sheeran.
| Token | Kind | google news 7D | Other windows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presley Gerber | rank 23 name | 0.0 from 0.0, 0.0%, low quality | 30D and 12M also 0.0, 261 points |
| Nvidia | rank 17 name | 7.0 from 8.0, -12.5% | 30D 7.0 from 77.0, -90.91% |
| ed sheeran | rank 24 name | 75.0 from 5.0, +1400.0% | 30D 75.0 from 21.0, +257.14% |
| iPhone 18 Pro | rank 20 name | 33.0 from 74.0, -55.41% | 30D 33.0 from 100.0, -67.0% |
| Federal Reserve | rank 16 name | 30.0 from 14.0, +114.29% | 30D 30.0 from 83.0, -63.86% |
| Jane Street | rank 15 name | 2.0 from 4.0, -50.0% | 30D 2.0 from 26.0, -92.31% |
| ICE | rank 1 name | 7.0 from 43.0, -83.72% | recent_date 2026-09-12 |
| Apple | rank 21 name | 43.0 from 63.0, -31.75% | recent_date 2026-09-12 |
Live rank is not a sort of the close. Presley Gerber sat at rank 23 with index 0.0 on 2026-09-19. Nvidia sat at rank 17 with 7.0 after falling from 77.0 on 2026-08-22. ed sheeran sat at rank 24 with 75.0, up 1400.0% over 7D from 5.0. ICE sat at rank 1 with 7.0, the same index as Nvidia, on an older recent_date of 2026-09-12. Quote the stamp. Do not treat rank 1 as the largest news-search token.
The Nvidia peak is the durable join. get_time_series on google news for Nvidia returned 261 weekly rows from 2021-09-25 (index 1) to 2026-09-19 (index 7). Peak 100.0 landed on 2026-08-29, then 77.0 on 2026-09-05, 8.0 on 2026-09-12, and 7.0 on 2026-09-19. 12M was 7.0 from 2.0 on 2025-09-20, +250.0%. YTD was 7.0 from 1.0 on 2026-01-03, +600.0%. A September 21 headline rank does not restore the August 29 peak.
iPhone 18 Pro shows the same lag from the other side of a launch. The series ran 261 weekly rows from 2021-09-25 (index 0) to 2026-09-19 (index 33). Peak 100.0 landed on 2026-08-22, then 38.0, 42.0, 74.0, 33.0. Rank 20 on this morning's board is a teardown headline sitting on a cooling curve, not a new high.
ed sheeran dedicated get_growth closed 75.0 on 2026-09-19. The matching time series last point printed 74. Quote 75.0 from the six-window growth call, and note the series ended one index point lower. 12M was 75.0 from 9.0, +733.33%. YTD was 75.0 from 0.0, 999999.0. Skip that percent. The week actually moved from 5.0 to 75.0.
1W matched 7D exactly on Nvidia and on ed sheeran. 1M matched 30D exactly: Nvidia 7.0 from 77.0, -90.91%; ed sheeran 75.0 from 21.0, +257.14%. Extra windows still sit on one source-plus-keyword request. google news rows in this run had no recent_volume.
sort=rank_change with window=7d and limit 10 used the same as_of_ts, plus baseline_ts 2026-09-14T00:01:29.596449+00:00, then returned count 0 and empty data. The note said the board turned over completely versus the 7d baseline, so no rank change could be computed. window=1d against baseline_ts 2026-09-20T02:01:45.385590+00:00 also returned count 0, with the same complete-turnover note. offset 25 with limit 5 returned count 5: ranks 26 through 30. This board continued past row 25 on this pull.
Two strings, two tools. REST uses mode get_growth or get_top_trends. MCP uses the matching tool names. Keyword windows live on the Google News keyword trends API. The live board page is the Google News Top News API. Pagination and limit are documented with get-top-trends.
{"mode": "get_top_trends", "type": "Google News Top News"}
{"mode": "get_growth", "source": "google news", "keyword": "Nvidia", "percent_growth": ["7D", "30D", "12M", "YTD"]}
{"mode": "get_time_series", "source": "google news", "keyword": "Nvidia"}
{"mode": "get_growth", "source": "google news, news volume", "keyword": "Nvidia", "percent_growth": ["7D"]}
The MCP equivalents are get_top_trends(type="Google News Top News"), get_growth(keyword="Nvidia", source="google news", percent_growth=["7D", "30D", "12M", "YTD"]), and get_time_series(keyword="Nvidia", source="google news"). REST top_trends with type Google News Top News and limit 3 on September 21, 2026 returned the same snapshot timestamp as the omitted-limit MCP pull, with count 3: the Al Jazeera ICE row, the NBC News Clancy row, and the BBC Merz row.
Omit percent_growth on Nvidia google news and the handler returned HTTP 200 with a single 12M row: index 7.0 versus 2.0, growth +250.0%, total_data_points 261. The default window is 12M. REST repeated that default. Quote 7.0. Do not put +250.0% in a forecast without the 30D collapse from 77.0.
The comma-separated Nvidia call returned sources_requested ["google news", "news volume"], sources_successful 1, and sources_failed 1. google news 7D was 7.0 from 8.0, -12.5%, 261 weekly points. news volume came back status unavailable, message Source did not respond in time. volume_weighted_growth printed null, weight_coverage 0/1 sources. Standalone news volume for ed sheeran in this run returned CloudFront HTTP 504 HTML. Read source_results before joining those percentages. Article-count windows, when they do return, live on news volume vs Google News Top News.
get_time_series on google news, news volume returned invalid_source with 16 names and no all. Multi-source strings belong on get_growth only.
REST source Google News with keyword Nvidia and percent_growth ["7D"] case-folded and returned HTTP 200, echoing data_source google news, 7.0 from 8.0. Store the lowercase source string.
Two tokens from one headline can disagree. Rank 19 named Hideo Kojima and PHYSINT. Hideo Kojima closed at 9.0 from 18.0 over 7D, tagged low quality. PHYSINT closed at 18.0 from 56.0, -67.86%, also tagged low. Rank 23 named Cindy Crawford and Presley Gerber. Cindy Crawford closed at 3.0 from 6.0. Presley Gerber closed at 0.0. Shorten, then pick the token that actually resolves.
get_top_trends with type google news returned HTTP 200, envelope statusCode 400, error invalid_request, message Unknown type 'google news', plus 24 valid feed labels that include Google News Top News. type Google News failed with the same error. The handler did not map either string to source google news.
get_growth with source Google News Top News and keyword Nvidia returned error invalid_source, message 'google news top news' is not a valid source., plus 16 valid sources: google search, google images, google news, google shopping, youtube, wikipedia, tiktok, reddit, amazon, news sentiment, news volume, app downloads, app rankings, steam, npm, python, all. The handler lowercased the rejected source. It did not map it to google news.
The inverse fold exists on the feed name. type google news top news on get_top_trends returned HTTP 200 and echoed type Google News Top News, with the same top three headlines as the canonical label and as_of_ts 2026-09-21T06:01:34.953912+00:00. llms.txt still describes feed labels as case-sensitive. The live handler accepted this lowercase News string on September 21, 2026. Prefer the canonical Google News Top News spelling in stored configs.
REST omitting type is a different 400. POST https://api.trendsmcp.ai/api with mode get_top_trends and limit 5, no type, returned HTTP 200 with envelope statusCode 400, error invalid_request, message The 'type' parameter is required, then the same 24-name list. llms.txt still names that miss missing_parameter. Read statusCode inside the JSON, not only the HTTP line.
country GB with limit 5 on Google News Top News returned envelope statusCode 400, error invalid_request, message that country is only supported for Google Trends, Google Trends by Category, TikTok Trending Hashtags, TikTok Trending Hashtags by Category, X (Twitter) Trending, and YouTube Trending. Google News Top News is not on that list. Omit country on this feed.
A later REST top_trends with limit 3 on the same stamp returned count 3 and the same first three headlines as the MCP omit-limit pull. Read as_of_ts before joining two pulls from the same morning.
Board rows arrive as publisher titles. get_growth needs a short token that actually resolves. Rank 17 pasted as Nvidia boss rejects AI extinction fears as 'doomsday narratives' - BBC returned google news 7D recent_value 0.0 and baseline_value 0.0, growth 0.0, on 261 points, with data_quality low and a 90% zeros warning. The shortened token Nvidia printed 7.0 versus 8.0. Rank 23 as Presley Gerber also printed 0.0, but that zero is the series, not a paste miss. Cindy Crawford from the same headline printed 3.0. Shorten, then check the index before treating the row as empty.
ed sheeran news volume in this run returned CloudFront HTTP 504 HTML. The comma-separated Nvidia call marked news volume unavailable while google news still printed index 7.0. llms.txt lists news volume as a normal keyword source. It does not warn that the source can miss while google news and the live board on the same names stay up. Treat a 504 as a miss. Retry or fall back to google news. Failed HTML is not billed as a 2xx request.
Apple google news closed on 2026-09-12 at 43.0 from 63.0, -31.75% over 7D, 261 points. iPhone 18 Pro, one rank above on the same board, closed on 2026-09-19. Two tokens from one morning list can carry different week-ending dates. Quote both stamps.
get_top_trends MCP pricing is 1 credit per 10 requested rows, max 10 credits per call. REST counts 1 request per call. Free boards still cap at the top 10. The 25-row pulls on this page are the paid default, which is also what the handler returns when limit is omitted on a paid key. The keyword-window follow-up is the Google News keyword trends API. This split stays inside one news stack: news-search index versus live headline rank.
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