Trending Searches on Google: How to use Google Trends
Google Trends is a tool allowed to be used for free to search for keywords which are
used and how frequently they are in search.
Here, we will go over the fundamentals of Google Trends, including the significance of the indicators, how to understand the data, and how to use it for marketing and business purposes.
Table of contents
- What is Google Trends?
- What you can do with Google Trends
- About Google Trends data
- Main features of Google Trends
- How to use Google Trends in SEO
- Difference between Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner
- Take advantage of Google Trends
What is Google Trends?
Google Trends is a free tool that is allowed to be used to check search trends around the world.
Google started offering it in May 2006. No account registration is required and anyone can use it.
What you can do with Google Trends
Google Trends mainly provides the following information:
- Trends in the popularity (number of searches) of specific keywords from past to present
- What other keywords are people searching for?
- Popular topics with rapidly increasing searches
The biggest feature of Google Trends is that you can specify the region or period to investigate trends in search needs. Reference data has been reflected in real time since June 2015, allowing you to check the latest search trends.
The period can be specified as the past 1 hour, past 4 hours, past 1 day, past 7 days, past 30 days, past 90 days, past 1 year, past 5 years, 2004 to present, etc. Regions can be specified by country or region.
About Google Trends data
The data handled by Google Trends uses sampling data from Google searches (several billion searches per day). This is because all the data from Google searches is huge and takes time to process.
There are two types of data used:
- Real-time data: Random sample from the past 7 days
- Non-real-time data: Uses a random sample separate from real-time data and can go back up to 36 hours since 2004
Basically, it reflects what users search on Google, but data such as very small search data or repeated searches by the same person over a short period is automatically filtered.
Main features of Google Trends
Google Trends has a variety of functions that allow you to learn about keywords that are in demand from various angles, such as the current season or each season. It can be effectively used for more effective content creation and SEO measures.
There are four menus: ``Search,'' ``Trending keywords,'' ``Year in Search: Look back at searches,'' and ``Register.'' Let's take a look at the functions and how to read each menu.
Investigate
In the "Look up" menu, you can check the popularity of any search keyword or topic.
Enter any word or phrase into the search window to get search keywords and subjects, then choose from them.
The difference between keywords and topics is as follows.
- Keyword: Search data that includes that word will be targeted. For example, if the search keyword is "ramen", "ramen Ikebukuro" and "ramen recipes" will also be searched.
- Topic: Targets search data for words that have the same meaning. For example, "Pokemon" and "Pocket Monsters" will be treated as the same topic.
Understand and differentiate the meanings of words in the topic. For example, in the case of the topic "Wagyu", the two topics "Wagyu (cow)" and "Wagyu (comedy duo)" are predicted and displayed, so you can refer to only the data for the topic you want to research.
When you research a search keyword or topic, you can see its popularity over time using a line graph.
This data can be filtered along four axes.
- Region: You can specify from all countries to regions (by prefecture).
- Period: From January 1, 2004, to the present, you can specify any period by date, and you can also extract data for the past 4 hours or the past 1 hour.
- Category: You can filter your search to subjects inside a particular category. For example, if you filter "Diet" by the category "Health > Nutrition > Vitamins, Supplements", you will only see data about diet supplements, etc.
- Search type: Web search, image search, news search, Google shopping, YouTube search, you can specify which search type data to use.
Google Trends “Inspect” menu
The numbers displayed in the Google Trends graph indicate relative values to the total number, with the highest value in the extracted data being 100.
Therefore, a large number does not necessarily mean a large search volume. Please note that these numbers only indicate relative proportions within the search data.
You can also view the following three types of data using "Search".
- Interest by sub-region: Which regions in the data were most popular?
- Related topics: What other topics do people who search for that keyword or topic tend to search for?
- Related keywords: What other keywords do people who search for that keyword or topic tend to search for?
Latest articles and insights
If you scroll down a little from the top page of Google Trends, you will see an item called ``Read more →''. From here, you can get detailed data on what articles are being viewed in Google Trends.
It analyzes how people are interested in the topic you have chosen, which is useful when looking for topics to write articles about.
Trending words
"Trending keywords" allows you to see which keywords are seeing a spike in traffic by country.
"Daily Search Trends" displays keywords that have seen a sharp increase in traffic in the past 24 hours, and "Real-time Search Trends" displays keywords by day, and you can check thumbnail images and related articles.
You can also check trending words using the screen saver function by accessing " Google Trends – Hot Searches ". It is convenient and easy to understand trending words visually.
Year in Search: Looking back in search
In "Year in Search: Looking Back", you can check the trending words by year in a ranking format.
This is the annual version of ``Trending Words,'' ranking keywords that have seen a sharp increase in traffic compared to the previous year by category.
Registration
By using "Register", you will be able to receive the latest information on the topic of any search keyword by email.
To make a new registration, click the "+" button in the bottom right corner. Registration is completed by entering your search keywords, topics, frequency of receiving emails, and target area on the registration screen.
If you run a trend blog that updates the latest news, we recommend that you register your site's genre so that you can automatically receive trend information.
How to use Google Trends in SEO
From here, we will explain specific ways to use Google Trends to develop your SEO strategy.
Check and compare keyword popularity
You can research and compare the popularity of keywords using Google Trends data.
The "Search" menu allows you to conduct a search for up to five keywords at once. It is easy to assess the ranking of different keywords or themes.
By comparing multiple keywords, you can see how each keyword's popularity has changed over time, which can be useful for your keyword strategy.
Use related keywords and topics as references for new content
Related keywords/related topics let you know what other keywords users are searching for.
For example, for the keyword "ramen", the topic "takeout" is displayed as the first related topic.
Keyword “ramen” topic
As shown in the image above, the topic “Takeout” has seen a rapid increase in traffic since the beginning of March 2020. These data show that people who searched for ``ramen'' also often searched for ``takeout'' before and after the search.
Based on these results, you can use related topics and keywords as references for new content, such as planning a special feature called ``5 Recommended Takeout Ramen Restaurants in Shinagawa.''
Browse popular keywords by region
When searching for keywords, if you specify "local" in the search category, You can find out the popularity of that keyword by region. If you can find out in which region the keyword you are targeting is more popular, you can use it to create articles that meet demand.
Consider the release date of content by looking at seasonal changes.
For search keywords whose needs increase during certain seasons or times of the year, you can consider the publication date of your content by referring to Google Trends data.
You can understand seasonal changes from Google Trends.
The image above is a graph of the popularity of the search keyword "tax return" over the past five years. As is the case every year, traffic increases little by little from the end of October, peaks from January to early March, and It suddenly decreases at the end of the month.
For keywords and topics that always move in the same way every year, it is effective to understand when they will become popular, create corresponding content in advance, and publish them a little before the demand increases.
Estimate user needs by looking at changes over time daily
When looking at the past day, you can infer user needs and behavior by looking at changes over time.
It is possible to understand changes over time daily.
The image above is a graph of the popularity of the search keyword "hangover" over the past day. Looking at the graph trends, you can see that searches peak from 2:00 pm to 10:00 am.
Based on this data, we designed content such as ``How to prevent a hangover so that it won't leave you feeling lingering until the next morning'' for users who search during the night hours, and for users who search during the morning hours. An idea comes to mind, such as planning content called ``An immediate cure for hangovers.
In this way, by using Google Trends data, you can deepen your understanding of users and use it as a reference for planning.
Difference between Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner has a similar functionality to Google Trends. Both are useful tools for keyword searches, but their usage is slightly different.
While Google Trends can be used for free with no registration required, Google Keyword Planner is a tool that can only be used after registering a Google account and logging into the Google Ads management screen. After that,
- ・You can display the strength of competitors' advertising with the same keyword in 3 levels: weak, medium, and strong. ・You can check the number of monthly searches (you can get more accurate numbers by posting an ad) )
- ・You can check the standard cost per click (CPC) when placing Google ads. You can check the keywords that are highly related to the keyword you are looking for.
- You can perform keyword searches from a different angle than Google Trends.
Take advantage of Google Trends
Google Trends not only allows you to check the popularity of search keywords and topics, but also provides a variety of information such as related keywords, popularity by region, and past popularity trends. You can infer user needs and behavior by looking at traffic trends, so we recommend conducting research using a variety of keywords and topics.
On the other hand, Google Trends numbers are calculated relatively, so when looking at the number of searches for a keyword (search volume), Keyword Planner is more suitable than Google Trends.
Make sure to use Keyword Planner and Google Trends wisely and according to your goals.
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