Google recently celebrated the 15th year of Google Trends. It is a list of the latest insights and stories. Google Trends display the volume a search term is entered in Google. Such information can be used to compare keywords and discover events that can trigger search ranking. 

A digital marketing speaker Hong Kong explains that Google Trends can be very useful in finding relevant keywords to optimize SEO campaigns. By visiting the tool, brands and businesses can explore what the world is searching for. The results will show the volume of searches for a specific term per related topic, region, and time. These data can guide them when and where to ramp up their marketing efforts. 

In line with Google Trends’ 15th anniversary, Google listed 15 key tips on how to make the best out of Google trends. Here’s a summary of these tips. 

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Tip No. 1 – Data by Date

Marketers can filter their searches on what people are looking for from any date in 2004 to a few minutes ago. The search results will show two data sets. The first data set covers historic information from 2004 to 3 days ago. The second data set covers real-time information from 7 days ago to the present. A social media agency Hong Kong notes that real-time data sets are more detailed and are updated minute-by-minute. As such, they are a perfect guide to creating the latest creative campaigns. 


Tip No. 2 – Top Searches VS. Trending Searches

Top searches or “most-searched” queries are what people look for in a specific time frame. While trending searches are queries that accelerate faster in a given time frame. The latter is useful in knowing how things have changed. To make the best out of Google Trends, markets should focus on real-time trends.


Tip No. 3 – Terms VS. Topics Search

Google Trends allows marketers to look up using terms and topics. Terms are very specific searches yielding limited results. Topics are language-agnostic in Google Trends. They account for spelling mistakes and variations. They also cover all related search terms. So, Google recommends choosing topics over terms when exploring trends.

Tip No. 4 – Big and Small Locations

Google Trends is the perfect tool to compare keyword searches. To make comparison easier, Google recommends comparing search trends from big places to small places. For example, when looking up search trends, start with the metro area or key cities, then proceed to less populous and smaller regions like counties and towns. 


Tip No. 5 – Country Filters

Google Trends also allows you to know what is trending in each country in the world. To make the best out of Google Trends, use country filters. They are the best ways to give you a sense of volume based on geographic regions of the world.

Tip No. 6 – Real-Time Search Trends

Real-time search trends are a great guide to see what’s happening right now around the world. From these data, marketers can grab the opportunity of promoting related products and services based on these trends.

Tip No. 7 – Relative Comparison

Google Trends recommends always doing a relative comparison when using the tool. To understand the scale of trends further, comparison can help brands and businesses offer something that their competitors don’t.

Tip No. 8 – Different Places Searches for the Same Thing

This is a hidden feature of Google Trends that can be very useful to marketers. Google Trends allows the comparison of up to five search terms or topics. For each one, you can specify the locations or places over the past 12 months. From these data, marketers can identify the best market location where they can ramp up their ads and campaigns. 

Tip No. 9 – Visualize Common Interests

Google Trends is a human-centered dataset. It is a collection of what people are interested in. With the said tool, marketers can visualize common interests. They can then create campaigns relevant to these common interests to make them more effective.

Tip No. 10 – Polls VS. Trends

Polls are very much different from trends. Google Trends should not be confused as a tool to create scientific polls. Rather, marketers should use Google Trends to search for a particular interest during a specified duration of time. 

Tip No. 11 – What’s Happening in the World Economy

Do you know that Google Trends is a perfect tool for knowing what is happening in the world’s economy? In fact, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) uses the tool to get a more granular view of its quarterly releases to track GDP. 

Tip No. 12 – Autocomplete VS. Trends

Autocomplete is also very much different from Google Trends. Autocomplete is the process of predicting the term or topic based on what you are typing. Google Trends is a tool to look up for anything you want to search. Although it uses the autocomplete feature on the search box, its results are available trends based on what you are searching for and are not predictive.


Tip No. 13 – What’s Trending Near You?

Another interesting feature where you can make the best out of Google Trends is to see what is trending near you. The tool allows you to see what is trending in a certain location without the need for a search term or topic. This can be seen or trending searches based on locations.

Tip No. 14 – Downloading Google Trends Data

To make the best out of Google Trends, the tool allows marketers to download loads of data. These can serve as their guide on their marketing plans. All they need to do is click the download button next to each chart.

Tip No. 15 – Have Fun with Google Trends!

Around 15% of Google Trends queries are very unique. They have never been seen before. Have fun to make the best out of Google Trends. Peek behind the curtains by constantly searching for what things interest the world!

Reference: https://blog.google/products/search/15-tips-getting-most-out-google-trends/