Last Updated on October 30, 2024 by Owen McGab Enaohwo
Not your average SEO tool, Google Trends is one of the handiest tools out there, especially for those with eCommerce websites. It can help with anything from finding new products to sell and getting on top of the latest content trends to exploring new niches to expand to and even edging out competitors by monitoring their positions.
The list of uses for Google Trends is seemingly endless. But, that’s not all – Google Trends is free and open for anyone to use, at any time!
This article will share how to use Google Trends to get a competitive business edge and maximize your ROI. So, let’s get down to it.
What Are Google Trends?
Google Trends is a trends search tool that helps you establish the popularity of a specific term in Google.
The tool enables you to see whether a trend is on the rise or declining, compare the popularity of search terms and trends, gain an understanding of the hottest search trends at the time of your search, and catch trends developing in popularity over time.
SEO experts use Google Trends to filter through loads of different queries, including:
- Country, Region, City
- Categories, e.g. Arts, Science, Sports
- Dates – hourly, day, month, year
- Type of search – Web, Image, News, Shopping, YouTube
Although there is no publicly available Google Trends API, you can access two samples of datasets, including non-real-time data that goes back as far as 2004 and real-time data from the past week.
How to use Google Trends Effectively to Grow a Business?
If you are new to Google Trends or are simply looking to make better use of this fantastic tool, here are nine tips to stir you in the right direction!
#1 Use Google Trends for Keyword Research
As online content continues to grow as the primary source of information, knowing how to find keywords how to place them is more relevant than ever.
Whether you are operating a webpage or a social media platform, including keyword research before posting content is crucial – that is, if you hope to perform competitively and at the top level.
Keyword research using Google Trends will help you learn what words and phrases generate the most internal clicks, the most extensive audience interest, and linger time to improve your site’s ranking all data coming from user’s Google Activity History.
This information is vital for marketers and those concerned with SEO, as search volume is, ultimately, what drives new traffic to any site.
Google Trends allows you to inspect any keyword or phrase and establish how interest in that topic has grown or declined throughout any time frame. The results are shown via graphics and numbers. By visualizing Google Trends data using Venngage’s gantt chart maker, you can create clear, easy-to-understand visual representations of trends over time.
We would recommend you avoid temporarily popular keywords, as they usually fade as quickly as they become popular.
#2 Find Niches Using Google Trends
Whether you are already covering a niche and looking to expand or are on the lookout for a niche to embrace from scratch, Google Trends is a great tool to help you out.
In doing this, change your range from “Past 12 months” to “2004-present” to see whether the search volume is increasing or declining, and see seasonal trends in one clear-cut shot. That way, you’ll be sure to embrace what niche pays off the most.
If you are expanding niche markets, Google Trends is terrific for that, too.
For example, a Recruitment company wants to branch out. Presently, top searched terms for a recruitment company include PEO Companies, HR Specialist, independent employee benefits programs, and payroll management.
Based on these results, the firm decides to expand its services to payroll management as well. In offering an additional service, the company becomes more appealing to employers.
#3 Use Google Trends’ Homepage to Review Trending Topics
One of the most effective ways to use Google Trends is to make use of the website’s homepage.
Google Trends has information about current worldwide trends and events under the latest stories and insights section, which can serve as crucial information for you to follow. In addition, you can browse real-time search trends, daily trending searches, and search by country.
You can drive high traffic volumes back to your website by occasionally covering newsworthy stories on your blog. If your business is on social media, jump on trending hashtags on Twitter, share your content and get more social media engagement to create content called customer experience.
However, make sure you are covering something related to your industry because otherwise, it will be obvious you are just fishing for visits.
If you want to review top trends from previous years, you can do that too.
#4 Use Your Industry Name as a Search Keyword
Searching your industry name is yet another effective way to use Google Trends, as it’ll help you identify top trending topics at the moment.
Say you own a local beauty salon, search the “beauty industry.” You might find relevant topics like “beauty industry trends 2021” or “beauty industry covid”. Based on these keywords, you can create how-to videos, blog posts, infographics, and other forms of content to drive traffic to your site.
#5 Apply Sub region Data to Spot Trending Topics in Your Area
Google Trends sub-regional data can be exceptionally helpful for small businesses with the majority of their customers residing within a town or state.
By inserting specific locations into the location tab at the top of the page, you can adjust your search and figure out what relevant keywords and topics people are searching for in your area.
Say you own a coffee shop in Washington and notice that people usually search for the best coffee shops in Washington and coffee delivery in Washington. You can use this data to refresh your content and help your coffee shop get associated with the most searched terms.
#6 Promote Your Product/Service Around Seasonal Trends
Consistency matters, but intrigue draws the customers in. Put those two together, and you’ve got a winner!
Seasonal trends can be a beneficial thing to make use of if you want to increase sales. With peaks and dips stretching throughout the year, your monthly sales will drop or rise, and you need to land on your feet and prevent any big losses.
The way to use Google Trends to your advantage, in this case, is to search for terms and key phrases surrounding your primary keyword and act on it. How? By introducing products/services that naturally complement what you are already offering but are an upgrade. You can also search your competition seasonally to see what they are up to, then top it.
#7 Use Google Trends for Content Freshness
With the way things are currently going in digital marketing, increasing brand awareness and getting more customers is virtually impossible without a proper content marketing strategy.
So, something as simple as creating new blog content for your website can help grow your business. One way to put your older content on the search map and help drive spikes in search traffic is to do “content freshness.” Content freshness is removing outdated content, adding new, fresh details, and republishing the content on your blog.
But, where does Google Trends fit here?
Say you own a cupcake store, and you’ve got a blog on your website titled: “how to choose cupcakes for your bridal shower”. Type in those keywords into Google Trends, and it’ll show you peak season for this search each year.
Naturally, it’s a given that you need to do content freshness regularly, especially when you start to lose your position in Google. You can also organize your content freshness around the search terms peak season. Guess what? Just by freshening up your content during the right season, you can skyrocket to the top of search results for that keyword.
Implement this strategy on your best-performing SEO articles, Check the detail guided by Systeme.io and you’ll grow your website traffic in the blink of an eye.
#8 Monitor Competitors’ Positions with Google Trends Compare
Thanks to Google Trends, checking out your competitors has never been easier. The tool allows you to monitor your competition (actually, up to 5 competitors) and see where they are against your brand.
As your brand grows its search audience, you can use Google Trends to make sure you are continually a step ahead of the competition. And, if you notice some competitors are growing faster than you, start analyzing their marketing channels to see how you can improve. To accelerate business, listen to the podcast here.
#9 Use Trend Predictions
One of the simplest ways to get help with your keyword research is by using Google Trend predictions.
In recent years, Google has added forecasting and trend data for existing keywords to the Google Trends tool, making things so much easier for business. So, if you see your business-related keyword expected to rise in search volume in the next period, take advantage of the opportunity and target that keyword.
COVID-19 and Google Trends
Would it really be a 2021 blog without mentioning COVID-19 and its impact on virtually every industry out there?
During the pandemic, we could throw many of the traditional search volumes from third-party tools (relying on a 12-month average) out of the window. People in lockdown and their migration to digital have led to a significant shift of interests that clearly signaled all marketers to adapt their strategies.
In September 2020, Google made its COVID-19 search data public. The data consisted of over 400 symptoms, signs, and health conditions. The aim – to effectively track the spread of disease through users’ search terms. Also, in the global panic, people needed information on the virus that Google Trends happily enabled.
In September 2020, Google made its COVID-19 symptoms data public on search trends, primarily made up of the volume of over 400 searches of signs, symptoms, and health conditions. The purpose of this data release was to track the spread of disease through users’ search terms effectively.
Final Thoughts
In case you still haven’t jumped on that Google Trends wagon, it’s high time you did.
To stay dexterous and adapt to what your audience wants, start integrating Google Trends data into your keyword research and content plans, and see your business grow faster than you thought possible.
By taking advantage of Google Trends, you can help your business evolve and expand to new markets.
Author Bio
Nick Chernets is the Founder and CEO of DataForSEO, the leading provider of marketing data. Just as much as he is passionate about data analysis and SEO — Nick also enjoys sharing his experience from the business side of the industry.