Google Trends is an incredible FREE tool that analyzes the popularity of what people are searching for on Google and YouTube over time, by category, and by geographic location. It was initially created for journalists, and the world of journalism and marketing have a lot in common. With Google Trends, you can see exactly how searches for specific topics or search terms change over time, by category, and by geographic location so you can get relevant insights into what your potential customers or fanbase are interested in. You can then use that information to inform your marketing strategy.
This blog post covers the best reasons to use Google Trends to explore what’s top of mind for your audience and how to adjust your digital marketing efforts to meet their needs.
Find currently trending topics
Finding trending topics can help you plan out content, identify unique angles to approach content, and even simply stay relevant as a brand.
Identify seasonal trends
With Google Trends you can look at trends over time to find seasonal patterns. A seasonal trend is a trend that comes back regularly, usually around a specific holiday or event. By researching trending topics in Google Trends, you can find out when to start advertising for your next big holiday offerings on your eCommerce platform(s).
Using the timestamp dropdown menu, you can adjust and expand the dates of your search with options ranging from “Past hour” to “Past 5 Years” to “2008 – present” for things like annual holiday shopping trends or concert tickets. You can then use this information to plan Google Shopping Ads
Smart Tip: Going back a few years will tell you if a trending topic is truly a seasonal trend or simply a temporary fad. If traffic spikes around the same time each year for a keyword, then it’s a trend.
Competitor Analysis
You should use Google Trends to see how your brand stands up to the competition in Google search traffic. We’ll use Adidas and Nike for this example from Jan 2020 until present. We can see that the Nike search term has comfortably had the lead over the Adidas search term with more searches for this time period.
Now let’s look at Hulu vs. HBO Max, which shows a bit more volatility. HBO Max newer than HBO and debuted in May 2020. In the screenshot below, you can see slight traffic upticks as early as 2019, most likely triggered by rumors starting before the official announcement or press release about the platform launching. Then HBO Max saw a big uptick once it debuted and even surpassed Hulu at certain points.
If you work for Hulu or HBO Max, you might want to check what shows your competitor released during their traffic spikes so you can replicate their success or adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.
Optimize your SEO strategy for web search and YouTube
Entering keywords and seeing how they trend over time on “web search” vs. “YouTube search” can be useful for your keyword research so you can optimize your website or YouTube page for more organic search traffic.
Start with a list of keywords you plan to target then plug them into Google Trends to see how they’re performing over time and whether or not they are the correct keyword choices for your SEO strategy.
For instance, if you’re trying to decide whether to sell Louis Vuitton bags or Marc Jacob bags on your eCommerce website, you’ll notice although Louis Vuitton bags have been significantly more popular in Google search compared to Marc Jacobs bags in previous years, but this year Marc Jacobs bags are just as popular as Louis Vuitton bags in popularity based on the trend of Google searches between the two. In fact, Marc Jacobs bag has surpassed the searches for Louis Vuitton bag this holiday season. See screenshot below.
Note that Google Trends does not measure keyword ranking difficulty or search volume like Google Ads keyword planner.
Related Posts
>> What is Google Trends & How to Use It
>> 5 Ways to Use Google Trends for Marketing