Google search volume data for AI assistants

Google Search data on Trends MCP is a weekly 0-100 index with about 5 years of history and an absolute volume estimate where available. As of August 15, 2026, artificial intelligence had an index value of 46 and an estimated weekly volume of 717,000 queries. The same MCP connection covers 25+ sources. The free plan includes 100 requests per month. Starter is $19 per month.

What Google Search data showed in August 2026

Artificial intelligence had an index value of 46 on August 15, 2026, down 49.45% from 91 on May 16, 2026 and down 17.86% from 56 on August 16, 2025. Estimated weekly volume moved from 1,420,000 on May 16, 2026 to 717,000 on August 15, 2026, against 873,000 a year earlier.

Electric vehicles had an index value of 39 on August 15, 2026, down 60.61% from 99 on May 16, 2026 and down 41.79% from 67 on August 16, 2025. Estimated volume moved from 1,410,000 to 555,000 over the 3M window. Model context protocol had an index value of 7, down 88.89% over 3M and down 93.0% over 1Y from a peak of 100. OpenAI had an index value of 16, down 79.75% over 3M and down 78.67% over 1Y. AI agents had an index value of 31, down 68.04% over 3M and down 31.11% over 1Y.

The pattern across these 5 keywords is consistent: AI-related search interest peaked in spring 2026 and has cooled sharply since, while remaining near or above year-ago levels on the longer window for the broadest terms.

What the live trending feed showed on August 19, 2026

get_top_trends with type Google Trends returned a breakout list led by hayden panettiere at rank 1, inde navarrette at 2, powerball winner at 3, natalie harp at 4, and egg recall at 5. Hurricane lala took 6, rebel creamery ice cream lawsuit 7, karoline leavitt 8, what time is the solar eclipse on august 12 at 9, and frank beard at 10.

The live feed takes no keyword. It answers what is spiking right now, while get_trends and get_growth answer how a known phrase has moved over 5 years.

The exact calls

get_trends returns the history. get_growth returns period percentages plus volume. get_top_trends with type Google Trends returns the live breakout list.

get_trends(keyword='electric vehicles', source='google search', data_mode='weekly')

get_growth(keyword='artificial intelligence', source='google search', percent_growth=['3M', '1Y'])

How this differs from the Google Trends website

The consumer Trends site shows relative interest, related queries, and regional heat for a human clicking around. Agents need a stable JSON object they can difference, store, and compare. Trends MCP maps that job onto 3 tools: history, growth, and live feeds.

The source key is google search. That series is search-volume interest, not Search Console clicks, not Ads keyword planner bids, and not Discover feed impressions. A phrase can trend on Google while the team's site ranks nowhere. SEO still needs the Google Trends product page plus ranking tools.

Who uses Google Search data

Content teams batch a keyword list every Monday and keep phrases with positive 3M and 1Y growth. Equity researchers watch issuer names into events, then confirm on news sentiment. Ecommerce teams compare Google Search with Amazon on the same phrase to separate research from shopping. Developers building pytrends alternatives often need MCP or REST instead of a scrape library that will fail a CI job.

A practical batch looks like this. Store 30 phrases. Once a week, call get_growth with 3M and 1Y on google search. Keep phrases where both windows are positive. For the keepers, call get_trends weekly and archive the JSON. Once a day during a launch, switch those few phrases to data_mode='daily'. That pattern stays inside 100 requests per month for a small desk and scales on Starter at $19 per month when the list grows.

Limits and caveats

Low-volume phrases return weak quality scores or misses. The 0-100 index is relative to that keyword's own peak in the window, which is why two keywords at 80 are not equal in absolute searches. Volume estimates should not be pasted into a media plan as if they were Keyword Planner.

Quota is 100 requests per month on the free plan, Starter $19 per month. A crawl of 10,000 keywords overnight is a different product. Deduplicating the list and caching weekly snapshots is how research teams stay inside the month.

Getting started

Sign up on the free tier, copy the API key, and make the first call with any HTTP client. The setup guide covers Claude, Cursor, and plain REST in 4 copy-paste blocks. The Google Trends API page covers the API contract in more depth.