3 Ways Marketers Can Use Google Trends in 2022
There are tons of data sources for marketers to tap into. Many of these are Alphabet products like Google Analytics to analyze Google search and SEO.
Google Trends is a property many people overlook. It is a free online tool for tracking the search vitality and popularity of a keyword over time.
With the New Year looming, here are 3 ways for marketers to harness the utility of Google Trends in 2022.
What Is Google Trends?
Google Trends was launched in November 2008. It was conceived as a way to track the relative popularity of certain keywords over time. The idea was that this tool would help journalists and bloggers to write more timely content by showing them what people were actually interested in searching for online at any given moment.
At its core, Google Trends is still exactly that – a way to see how frequently particular terms are being Googled. It has also evolved into so much more than “trendspotting” keywords. For example, you can now use it to compare two different phrases or ideas to see which one is more popular. You can also filter your results by location and date range to get a better sense of how interest in a particular topic is shifting over time.
Google Trend Components
The Google Trends website offers five main types of data: graphs, keywords, regions, industries and categories. Each one can be filtered to show results for a specific country/region or industry/category combination only. You are also able to view search terms related to your chosen phrase by clicking on the “Related queries” window. Additionally, you have several date-range options that include today’s date or any point from 2004 all the way up until 2021!
With a better understanding of what Google Trends is and how it works, let’s dive into how marketers can put this tool on blast for 2022!
#1: Improve SEO
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the art of online visibility. Marketers can use Google Trends to get a sense of the popularity of keywords, topics and search intent that SEO specialists use to ensure their content is “evergreen” or consistently search worthy year after year.
For example, if you are in charge of an e-commerce site that sells makeup and beauty products, then it would be wise to see what people have been searching for recently by typing the keyword “makeup” into Google Trends. You could get more granular by comparing how popular certain products are like “lipstick” vs. “eye shadow”.
Once you get the results, you can scroll down near the bottom of this page and view data broken down by region/country or industry/category too.
Using Google Trends, you can show you which products are currently on the rise and those that have declined. You can also see how interested people were in a topic at different points throughout a period of time.
It’s important to note that Google Trends is free and easy to use in comparison to SEO keyword research tools that can be quite costly and complicated to learn.
#2: Use Google Trends For Blog Post Ideas
Google Trends was initially developed for bloggers and writers. It’s still useful for scribes and can help with content ideas. Specifically, we will focus on blog posts but the same concepts can be applied to any type of content.
A blogger can use Google Trends to find popular phrases and terms related to their topic or niche. Let’s say you are writing about SEO tactics. You could type in “SEO” into the search bar and see which related topics are being searched more frequently than others.
From there, you could brainstorm blog posts around these specific topics:
- How to Optimize Your Site for Voice Search
- What Are the Top SEO Trends in 2021?
- What is the Difference Between Organic, Paid and PPC Search Results?
This type of research can be done for any topic in mere seconds. If you are having trouble coming up with ideas then it may help to brainstorm some related topics beforehand by looking at Google Trends first!
#3: Get Ideas for Social Media Campaigns
Google Trends is just not a vehicle for trend chasing on search engines. Marketers can use it to get ideas for social media campaigns.
Let’s say that you want to write about how brands had their best and worst years on Twitter in 2021. You could search “Twitter” on Google Trends and click on the web search drop down and select channels beyond web search such as News search, image search or YouTube search. If you wanted to gauge what is newsworthy, you could select News search and see trending topics like:
- What Brands Had Their Best Year On Twitter In 2021?
- Which Were The Top Hashtags Used During #SuperBowl54?
If you were developing a YouTube campaign, you could see whether this topic was vital and develop a series of videos around the suggested related topics and queries.
If a clothing company wanted to develop an Instagram campaign for Summer 2022, the marketing team could use Google Trends to determine the current “hot buys” in fashion and apparel by seeing what products surged in popularity at the end of 2021. Using this information, they could build a social media campaign to understand what is popular and seasonal among people searching online. By doing quick research on Google Trends, the marketing team is more likely to stay relevant in the Insta campaign with their chosen audience and demographic. This type of research is especially helpful if you are looking for ideas that everyone seems to be talking about, a killer recipe on social media!
Simple, Free & Incredibly Helpful
Google Trends is a goldmine for marketers in that it identifies valuable keywords. The tool is free. Keyword research tools can cost hundreds of dollars each month. Google Trends isn’t a substitute but an addition for any SEO or content specialist to add to their arsenal.
It doesn’t require hours of video training or webinars to master. Google Trends can be a conduit to develop content that people actually have interest in and will read, watch or listen to. Marketers should use this tool in addition to Google Analytics and all the other Alphabet products to get a jump start to trend chasing in 2022.