Summary
- The Actor runs on Apify’s platform, under your own Apify account.
- It sends your search terms and settings to Google Trends, and fetches public, aggregated data that isn’t about any person.
- Results are saved in your own Apify dataset and key-value store. You control them, and Apify’s retention rules apply.
- ImpactLayer doesn’t receive your results. We run no servers or databases for this Actor, and it has no analytics or cookies.
- Apify shows us usage statistics across all runs. We see a particular run’s input, log and results only if you choose to share it with us.
Who we are
Google Trends Scraper and API is provided by Dylan Powell trading as ImpactLayer, a sole trader based in Bridgend, UK (“we”, “us”). For the limited data described in What we can see and Support messages, we are the data controller.
UK GDPR contact: [email protected]
How the Actor runs
The Actor is a program published on Apify Store. When you run it, it runs on Apify’s platform inside your Apify account, using your account’s storage and proxy settings. Apify, not ImpactLayer, operates that platform and holds your account data. Apify’s handling of your data is covered by Apify’s privacy policy.
What it sends to Google
To fetch data, the Actor sends requests to Google Trends (trends.google.com) containing:
- your search terms or Knowledge Graph topic IDs;
- your settings: locations, time range, category, Google product (such as Web Search or YouTube), language and time zone.
Requests go through the Apify Proxy settings you choose, so Google sees a proxy address, not yours. The Actor sends no account details, names or email addresses. Google’s handling of those requests is covered by Google’s own privacy policy.
What comes back is public, aggregated data: relative search interest, related searches and topics, trending searches and, if you turn it on, public news headlines with their links and sources. It doesn’t identify anyone.
Your search terms are your choice
If you type a person’s name or other personal details as a search term, that text is sent to Google and saved in your results like any other term. Only enter terms you’re comfortable sending.
What is stored, and where
Everything the Actor saves goes into the storages of your run, in your Apify account:
| Where | What |
|---|---|
| Default dataset | Your results, plus a status row for any term that had no data or failed. |
| Default key-value store | INPUT (your settings and search terms), STATE (progress, so a run can resume after a server move) and RUN_SUMMARY (counts of rows, failures and charges). |
| Run log | Progress messages, which can include your search terms, locations and error messages from Google. |
Apify stores these. You can view, export or delete them at any time in Apify Console or through the Apify API.
What we can see
We don’t receive your results, and the Actor doesn’t copy anything to us. As the Actor’s developer, Apify lets us see:
- Usage statistics across all runs, in Apify’s Actor analytics: for example the number of runs and users, run success rates, revenue and platform costs.
- A run’s details, only if you share it. Apify shares a run’s status, input, log and storages (dataset and key-value store) with us in two cases: if you turn on Share run data with developers in Apify Console under Settings → Login & Privacy (it’s off unless you turn it on), or if you include a run link when you report an issue on the Actor’s Issues tab. You can turn the setting off at any time. See Apify’s guide to general resource access.
- Issues you open on the Actor’s Issues tab, with your Apify username, as Apify shows them.
We use shared run data only to find and fix problems and to answer you. We don’t sell it, share it, or use it for anything else.
Support messages
If you email [email protected], we keep your email address and messages so we can reply and keep a record of the conversation. We don’t add you to any mailing list.
Cookies and tracking
The Actor has no analytics, tracking or advertising, and sets no cookies of ours. This website sets no cookies. Apify’s own website and Console have their own cookie policy.
How long data is kept
- Your run data is kept by Apify under your plan’s data retention rules, which you control. You can delete it sooner. We hold no copy.
- Shared run data stays in your account. Our access ends when you turn sharing off or the run is deleted.
- Support emails are kept only as long as we need them to help you and keep a record. Ask us and we’ll delete them.
If you stop using the Actor, there’s nothing for us to delete: we never held your results.
Our lawful basis
We look at shared runs and answer emails to provide and support the Actor you chose to use (performance of a contract), and because we have a legitimate interest in keeping it working well.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you can ask us to:
- give you a copy of the data we hold about you (access);
- correct it;
- delete it;
- stop using it (objection).
Email [email protected]. For data in your Apify account, you can also use Apify Console or contact Apify. If you’re unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.
Changes to this policy
If the Actor starts handling data differently, we’ll update this page and the date at the top before the change goes live.