One of the main goals of all website owners and blog writers is to have lots of loyal visitors and readers. In this article, you'll learn how to use Google Trends for keyword research to achieve that goal.
To achieve high traffic and increase in subscribers, of course, it takes a series of efforts to create content or websites that attract the attention of many people. The most crucial effort is to determine the topic to be used as a basic material for content creation.
One tool that anyone can use easily and for free is Google Trends.
Get to know Google Trends
Google Trends is a tool from Google that functions to search and analyze search topics that are currently being discussed in the Google search engine. Google released Trends to the public on May 11, 2006 with the aim of increasing the participation of blog writers and website owners in creating search engine optimized content.
One of the most recognizable features of Trends each year is the Year in Search. Maybe you've seen the page below several times, often it will enter your timeline before the new year.
Access Google Trends with a Google Account
Google Trends can actually be accessed without the need to sign into any account. Just access Google Trends from the browser and you can use all Google Trends facilities.
But it is highly recommended to use your Google account so that your browsing history is recorded to be analyzed again later.
On the main page, there is a keyword column and several examples of topics that are trending in various parts of the world.
The map images below the search bar are examples of searches and where they are being discussed. Here we can see that the search for “Kim Kardashian” is rife all over the United States.
On the same page, in the menu which can be accessed in the top left corner, you will find several items as below:
The following is an explanation of the menus above:
- Home: A page to see a summary of topics that are currently being searched by internet users.
- Explore: The search page to find out in more detail what keywords are trending.
- Trending Searches: Daily and real time updates on the most popular searches.
- Year In Search: The most popular searches in the past year as discussed earlier in this article.
- Subscriptions: Pages to create and organize the topics you want to follow.
How to Use Google Trends for Keyword Research
Google Trends is basically very intuitive and easy to use for anyone. If you have a topic to search for, you'll get search results in just a few seconds.
But if you are still confused about choosing a topic, you can also look for keyword ideas for creating content from Google Trends. Let's get into that further.
How to Search for Keywords in Google Trends
If you already have a topic that you want to explore, just enter it in the column that is already available. Then, you will be taken to a page with a display of data about the keywords you are using. In this example, we are trying to search for the keyword “mountain bike (sepeda gunung)”.
But if you don't have any ideas to explore yet, you can choose from some of the most popular examples from around the world. The displayed results can be changed by changing the search country setting in the top right corner.
After changing the country settings, the search topics that are currently booming in that country will be displayed on the main Google Trends page. You can use this data to further explore what topics and keywords you want to cover in the next content.
How to Read Google Trends Charts
The graph shown on the Google Trends page does not reflect the number of searches, but an index of public interest (interest overtime).
Here's how the numbers read on the graph:
0: no data to show.
50: public interest is only half of the peak.
100: search is at its peak of popularity.
In short, the numbers 0-100 indicate the percentage of public interest in a topic.
How to Compare Multiple Keywords
In the keyword search feature on Google Trends, you can add a few more topics for comparison.
This feature makes it easy for you to make comparisons and decide which keywords are better to use. In this tutorial, we use several bicycle categories as examples of keyword comparisons.
The method is quite easy, just add your comparison keyword in the available column above the graphic display like this.
How to Optimize Keyword Search Categories
Google Trends doesn't just provide insights for search engine searches. You can also use this tool to search for ideas and keyword data for several other categories.
The categories covered include: web search, image search, news search, Google Shopping, and YouTube search.
If you intend to target a news website, online shop, or YouTube channel, this feature will come in very handy. You can find this feature by selecting the “Web Search” menu like this:
How to Use Google Trends for Seasonal Promos
Maybe you already understand a little about seasonal promos that are often held by well-known companies. Some examples of seasonal keywords in Indonesia are keywords related to: Eid, Christmas, New Year, fasting, Chinese New Year, and so on.
You can use Google Trends to identify search spikes for these keywords and launch your content strategy at the right time.
In this example, we are using the search for “new year deals”. Google Trends shows that this keyword experienced an increase in searches in the period from mid-December to early January each year.
Use this information to launch content with a similar theme over the same period. That way, you can provide content that many people are looking for.
How to Create a Content Calendar from Seasonal Keywords
After identifying seasonal keywords in the previous step, you can use them to build a content calendar.
Make sure you have started publishing content 2-1 weeks before an uptrend to make sure your content is already indexed by search engines when the increase in popularity occurs.
Joshua Hardwick, head of the content division of Ahrefs, suggests updating content from year to year to recycle existing content.
How to Avoid Using Declining Keywords
If you are doing a keyword search on Google Trends, maybe you also use some other tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and so on.
Google Trends has an advantage in that you can find out whether a topic will increase or decrease in popularity.
In the following example, we compare the keywords “folding bike” and “children's bicycle” in Google Keyword Planner, and here are the results:
If you look at the search volume per month and the level of difficulty, of course “folding bikes” are much more promising, right?
Wrong. ❌
Based on data from Google Trends, the popularity of the keyword “folding bike” has dropped dramatically in the last 6 months, while the trend for the keyword “children's bicycle” tends to be stable until the end of the year.
With this data, you can avoid investing in time and inaccurate content by choosing topics that are stable or currently increasing in popularity.
How to Target the Best Regions with Google Trends
If you have an online business in the form of buying and selling of products, regional targeting can be one of the most effective solutions to increase sales.
Use search geographic data on Google Trends to focus the promotion of your content and products to these areas.
In the following example, the keyword “folding bicycle” is very popular in Jakarta, Central Sulawesi, North Maluku, South Sulawesi and Banten. You can launch targeted ads in these areas to promote folding bike products.
Conclusion
Google Trends is an excellent tool for determining the keywords with the greatest potential so you can prepare the right content to make your website even more visited.
