Pass source news volume for article counts, or type Google News Top News for the live headline board. The two strings are not interchangeable.
Live data as of 2026-09-12
A news volume vs Google News Top News comparison on Trends MCP is two different tools. Source news volume on get_growth or get_time_series returns a 0-100 series for one keyword, with an article-count volume field when the pipeline has it. Type Google News Top News on get_top_trends returns ranked headline strings and takes no keyword. From the September 12, 2026 pull (as_of 2026-09-12T06:01:35 UTC), rank 24 was a Lady Gaga birth headline, and the shortened token closed at news volume index 5.7 and 283 articles on recent_date 2026-09-12. google news for the same name sat at 4.0 on recent_date 2026-09-05. Rank 14 Anthropic returned CloudFront HTTP 504 on source news volume while google news printed 44.0. Pasting a full headline printed index 0.0. Mixing the two strings is a 400.
The September 12, 2026 board is the split that still matters next month: live rank is a headline list stamped this morning, google news closed on 2026-09-05, and news volume can close on the pull day with an article count. Omitting limit returned limit 25, count 25, offset 0, as_of_ts 2026-09-12T06:01:35.521019+00:00. Rank 1 was a 9/11 anniversary headline from Politico. Rank 2 was a Saudi Arabia pipeline headline from CNBC. Rank 14 named Anthropic. Rank 19 named Apple Watch. Rank 24 named Lady Gaga.
| Token | Kind | news volume 7D | google news 7D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lady Gaga | rank 24 name | 5.7 from 2.0, 283 from 99 articles, +185.0% | 4.0 from 6.0, -33.33%, no volume field |
| Apple Watch | rank 19 name | 31.6 from 20.6, 1,908 from 1,244 articles, +53.4% | 22.0 from 22.0, 0.0%, 261 weekly points |
| Anthropic | rank 14 name | HTTP 504 | 44.0 from 65.0, -32.31%, 260 weekly points |
| Claude | rank 14 story token | not pulled | 44.0 from 48.0, -8.33% |
| Lil Durk | rank 23 name | not pulled | 69.0 from 99.0, -30.3% |
| diesel | rank 17 topic | HTTP 504 | 27.0 from 36.0, -25.0% |
| Saudi Arabia | ranks 2 and 6 | HTTP 504 | 21.0 from 33.0, -36.36% |
Live rank is not a sort of either close. Lady Gaga sat at rank 24 with 283 articles on 2026-09-12 while google news had already fallen to 4.0 a week earlier. Apple Watch sat at rank 19 with 1,908 articles, index 31.6, up 53.4% over 7D, while google news sat flat at 22.0. Anthropic sat at rank 14 with google news 44.0 and no news volume row on this pull.
Lady Gaga news volume used 262 points and recent_date 2026-09-12. 30D was index 5.7 from 2.3, 283 articles from 117, +147.83% index and +141.88% volume. google news for the same name used 260 points, recent_date 2026-09-05, 30D flat at 4.0, 3M +300.0% from 1.0, 12M -78.95% from 19.0. Quote the article count next to the 0-100 news-search index. Do not treat 4.0 as 283 stories.
Apple Watch news volume 30D was 31.6 from 17.1, 1,908 from 1,030, +84.8% index and +85.24% volume. 3M was 31.6 from 24.9, 1,908 from 1,503. 12M was 31.6 from 48.3, 1,908 from 2,918, -34.58%. google news 30D was 22.0 from 16.0 (+37.5%), 3M 22.0 from 5.0 (+340.0%), 12M 22.0 from 4.0 (+450.0%), still with no volume field. The google news time series ran 261 weekly rows from 2021-09-11 (index 7.0) to 2026-09-05 (index 22.0). Peak 100.0 landed on 2026-08-22, then 22.0 on 2026-08-29 and 2026-09-05. A September 12 headline rank does not restore that August 22 peak.
sort=rank_change with window=7d and limit 10 used the same as_of_ts, plus baseline_ts 2026-09-05T02:01:41.286282+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 2026-09-11T02:01:29.136006+00:00 also returned count 0, with a held-or-fell 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. The live board page is the Google News Top News API. Article-count windows live on news volume data. Window defaults live on get-growth. Pagination and limit are documented with get-top-trends.
{"mode": "get_top_trends", "type": "Google News Top News"}
{"mode": "get_growth", "source": "news volume", "keyword": "Lady Gaga", "percent_growth": ["7D", "30D", "12M"]}
{"mode": "get_growth", "source": "google news", "keyword": "Anthropic", "percent_growth": ["7D", "30D", "12M", "YTD"]}
{"mode": "get_time_series", "source": "google news", "keyword": "Apple Watch"}
{"mode": "get_growth", "source": "google news, news volume", "keyword": "Apple Watch", "percent_growth": ["7D"]}
The MCP equivalents are get_top_trends(type="Google News Top News"), get_growth(keyword="Lady Gaga", source="news volume", percent_growth=["7D", "30D", "12M"]), and get_time_series(keyword="Apple Watch", source="google news"). REST top_trends with type Google News Top News and limit 5 on September 12, 2026 returned the same snapshot timestamp as the omitted-limit MCP pull, with count 5: the Politico 9/11 row, the CNBC pipeline row, the Washington Post Pentagon row, a BBC Mississippi row, and an AP News midterm row.
1W matched 7D exactly on Anthropic google news: 44.0 versus 65.0, growth -32.31%. 1M matched 30D exactly: 44.0 versus 37.0, growth +18.92%. Extra windows still sit on one source-plus-keyword request. google news rows in this run had no recent_volume.
Omit percent_growth on Anthropic google news and the handler returned HTTP 200 with a single 12M row: index 44.0 versus 2.0, growth +2100.0%, total_data_points 260. The default window is 12M. That default ran because this source held about five years of weekly points. Anthropic YTD was 44.0 versus 1.0 on 2026-01-03, growth +4300.0%. The time series started at 0 on 2021-09-18, printed 1 on 2023-09-30, peaked at 100 on 2026-08-22, then closed at 44 on 2026-09-05. Quote 44.0. Do not put +4300.0% in a forecast.
Omit percent_growth on Apple Watch news volume also returned HTTP 200 with a 12M row: index 31.6 versus 48.3, growth -34.58%, recent_volume 1,909 from 2,918. The earlier four-window call on the same morning printed recent_volume 1,908 at the same index. Article counts can tick inside one session. Index 31.6 held.
The comma-separated Apple Watch call returned sources_requested ["google news", "news volume"], sources_successful 1, and sources_failed 1. google news 7D was flat at 22.0 with 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 Apple Watch had already succeeded minutes earlier. Read source_results before joining those percentages.
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.
get_top_trends with type news volume returned HTTP 200, envelope statusCode 400, error invalid_request, message Unknown type 'news volume', plus 24 valid feed labels that include Google News Top News. type google news and type Google News failed with the same error. get_growth with source Google News Top News and keyword Anthropic 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 news volume or 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 2026-09-12T06:01:35.521019+00:00. llms.txt still describes feed labels as case-sensitive. The live handler accepted this lowercase News string on September 12, 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 14 pasted as How Anthropic says Claude was used for weapons, spying and cyber operations returned google news 7D recent_value 0.0 and baseline_value 0.0, growth 0.0, on 260 points. The shortened token Anthropic printed 44.0 versus 65.0. Rank 24 pasted as the full birth headline also printed 0.0 versus 0.0. Lady Gaga as a two-word name is the join.
Anthropic, diesel, Saudi Arabia, and Meta news volume calls in this run returned CloudFront HTTP 504 HTML. Lady Gaga 7D/30D and Apple Watch 7D/30D/3M/12M succeeded. news sentiment for Lady Gaga also 504'd. 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.
Lil Durk google news sat at 69.0 on 2026-09-05, down 30.3% over 7D from 99.0, and up 6800.0% over 30D from 1.0. Quote 69.0. The 30D percent is a tiny baseline, not a demand multiple. Claude sat at 44.0, the same close as Anthropic, down 8.33% over 7D from 48.0 and up 69.23% over 30D from 26.0. Two tokens from one headline can share a close and still disagree on the week.
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 news volume data page. This split stays inside one news stack: article counts versus live headline rank.
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