Google Trends Research

Use this skill for Google Trends platform-data work: topic discovery, keyword momentum, regional interest, rising queries, and search-intent watchlists.

Core Rule

Treat Google Trends as a search-intent source, not full demand proof.

Good uses: topic discovery, keyword momentum, regional comparison, rising-query discovery, and watchlist monitoring.

Do not overclaim transaction demand, conversion intent, marketplace competitiveness, creator execution quality, or merchant-model fit from Google Trends alone.

Task Shapes

Classify the request first:

• Trending now scan: hot searches by country or recent lookback.
• Keyword momentum check: trend changes across one or more terms.
• Regional interest mapping: which markets are warmer for a topic.
• Related query expansion: rising terms usable as seeds.

Route

Use google-trends-fast with one --query, a country, and a time range. PostPlus locks the route to keyword analysis so the Agent only supplies research intent.

Evidence Quality

1. Check that term, country, and time window match the question before comparing trends.
2. Refine one query, region, or time window when a completed pass is too sparse; do not mix incomparable scopes.
3. Allow at most two changed follow-up passes after successful but insufficient results, within approved scope and budget; do not repeat an identical request or hide a failed/pending operation.
4. Stop when sufficient, at the bound, or when another pass would not help. Report useful evidence and uncertainty; preserve raw results and source links.

Relative search interest is not absolute search volume, purchases, or full market demand. Full machine fields belong to postplus research schema --route <route> --json; consult it only when required for processing, not before every request.

postplus research run google-trends-fast \
  --query "example topic" \
  --wait \
  --output ./result.json

Follow the CLI's structured result and reported next action; do not infer recovery from free-text messages. Reuse explicit user approval that already covers the requested scope and maximum cost; otherwise obtain approval before confirming a quote. Never infer spending authorization from a task alone. Resume the same operation through its returned checkpoint or action; never resubmit uncertain work, repeat exhausted recovery, or switch providers to bypass failure.

Default Workflow

1. Classify the request into one task shape.
2. Compile one keyword with country and timeframe.
3. Collect a small valid sample through google-trends-fast.
4. Extract trend signals that matter.
5. Separate observation from inference.
6. Hand off to platform or marketplace research if deeper evidence is needed.

Keep query briefs, raw trend payloads, normalized outputs, and watchlist caches under .postplus/google-trends/; keep final summaries or shortlist exports where the user can inspect them.

Good Output

Return keyword or topic set, observed trend signal, timeframe, geo scope, strongest rising queries or related topics, provisional implication, and the missing evidence layer.

Failure Modes

• Do not treat search spikes as proof that a product will sell.
• Do not confuse news-driven spikes with durable category demand.
• Do not skip geo and timeframe details when comparing terms.
• Keep each run to one clear keyword; compare multiple terms as separate bounded runs.
• Stop on unsupported keys, missing auth, unavailable hosted service, stable network failure, or malformed collection output.
• Do not answer Google Trends platform-data requests from generic web articles when the hosted route is available.

Handoff

• TikTok content heat or hook patterns -> tiktok-research.
• Instagram creator, account, or campaign scouting -> instagram-research.
• Instagram/Meta content proof -> instagram-research or facebook-research.
• For cross-source decisions, synthesize the evidence for the user’s task; do not treat search interest alone as a sourcing recommendation.

Public Command Boundary

• Choose the smallest matching command or workflow from the user input and run it directly.

• Readiness diagnostics: postplus doctor --skill google-trends-research.

• Inspect flags with postplus research run google-trends-fast --help only when needed.

• Run postplus research run google-trends-fast --query <term> --country <code> --time-range <window> --wait --output <result.json>.

• Preview and approval boundaries stay explicit; do not execute irreversible publishing without the required approval artifact.

• If the CLI returns a quote-confirmation challenge, reuse existing explicit user approval only when it covers the challenge scope and maximum cost; otherwise obtain approval before running postplus quote confirm --json --challenge-file <challenge.json> and retry with the returned token.