Struggling to find the right topics for your blog?

Wondering how to stay ahead of trends and attract more readers?

You’re in the right place.

This guide explores how to use Google Trends to supercharge your blogging efforts.

Let’s get started!

What is Google Trends?

Google Trends is a powerful tool by Google that reveals trending topics and searches across the globe.

It lets you see what was popular in the past and what’s currently capturing the world’s attention.

For example, in 2023, significant searches included topics like the Israel-Gaza conflict, the Titanic, and people such as Damar Hamlin.

With Google Trends, you can discover what the world is searching for, offering valuable insights into global interests and trends.

Whether you’re tracking past events or monitoring current ones, this tool gives a snapshot of what matters most to people around the world.

Why Google Trends is essential for blogging?

In the past, bloggers mainly relied on keyword research tools to decide what topics to write about.

But, over time, the accuracy of search volume data from these tools has become less reliable.

Why?

Because they depend on Clickstream data, which isn’t directly from Google.

That’s where Google Trends comes in.

It’s a tool that provides data straight from Google, making it the most reliable source to understand search volume and trends.

With Google Trends, you can validate your blog topics before you start writing. This way, you can ensure that enough people are actually searching for the topics you’re considering.

Google Trends use cases for blogging

Profitable niche research

When you’re diving into blogging, choosing the right niche is crucial.

Most niches fall under the broad umbrellas of health, wealth, and relationships.

But within these, it’s essential to pick a sub-niche with strong, sustainable growth potential.

Let’s say you’re exploring the health niche using Google Trends.

You might type in “health” as a search term and discover various related topics.

For example, “gut health” might be marked as a breakout topic, meaning it’s rapidly gaining interest. This makes it a potential goldmine for content creation.

By using Google Trends’ browsing options, you can dive deeper into these topics.

Say Gut Health:

For instance, “gut health” has shown a rising trend starting from 2021 (during the lockdowns 🤔), and it’s likely to continue growing as more people become conscious of the food they eat.

In addition to health, you can explore other sub-niches by searching for:

• The term “wealth” to explore financial niches like investment strategies, cryptocurrency trends, or personal finance management.
• “Relationships” to uncover potential sub-niches in dating advice, marriage counseling, or family dynamics.
• Also other broad categories like technology, education, or entertainment to find emerging sub-niches with growth potential.

🔑 Remember, the key is to look for topics marked as “breakout” or showing a rising trend, as these indicate growing interest and potential profitability.

By applying this method across various categories, you can identify multiple profitable sub-niches, allowing you to diversify your content or choose the most promising area for your blog.

Finding trending keywords

After identifying a promising niche like gut health, the next step is to dig deeper into the trending keywords within that niche. Google Trends helps you do just that.

For instance, after exploring gut health, you’ll notice that interest is particularly high in countries like Australia and New Zealand.

Also:

When you look at related topics, you’ll find a variety of micro niche ideas like smoothies, collagen, supplements, and more.

The fact that Google Trends recommends these terms suggests they have strong search volumes.

And if you drill down into a specific topic, say “collagen”, Google Trends might reveal related terms like “peptides” and “retinol”.

Basic keyword research

Let’s revisit the gut health topic to explore its related queries.

As you scroll down, you’ll see people are searching for terms like “best yogurt for gut health,” “glutamine for gut health,” and “activia for gut health.” These related queries provide a good starting point for your keyword research.

For example, if you dig into “yogurt for gut health” you’ll notice that the trend is rising.

But there’s more—you’ll also find queries like “what is kefir,” and “best probiotic yogurt.” These could be potential blog post topics.

Plus, related topics like “probiotic yogurt” might appear, giving you even more ideas to explore.

😕 However, while Google Trends is helpful for basic keyword research, it doesn’t provide search volumes or competition scores like dedicated keyword research tools do.

That’s why, for advanced keyword research, I wouldn’t recommend relying solely on Google Trends.

You’d be better off using a tool like Semrush, which offers a specialized feature called the Keyword Magic Tool.

The Keyword Magic Tool by Semrush is particularly powerful because it not only lists relevant keywords but also provides detailed metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty, and competitive density.

These metrics are crucial for understanding how easy or hard it might be to rank for a particular keyword.

The tool also groups keywords into clusters, helping you identify related keywords that you can target together in your content.

You can get a free 14-day Semrush trial here

Compare the products

If you’re into affiliate marketing or writing product comparisons, Google Trends can be a valuable tool for comparing two different brands.

Let’s say you’re in the productivity space and want to compare note-taking apps like Evernote and Notion. Google Trends makes it easy to see how these tools stack up against each other over time.

For example, by comparing Evernote and Notion, you might notice that Notion’s popularity began to surpass Evernote globally in 2020.

You can even drill down to see which tool is trending in specific countries.

Here’s one more:

If you swap Evernote for Trello, another productivity tool, you’ll find that Notion also overtook Trello in 2022.

This kind of comparison helps you understand the market dynamics and the popularity of the products you might be promoting on your blog.

It also ensures that there are enough people searching for comparisons between these products, which is crucial when you’re focusing on affiliate marketing.

By knowing which products are gaining traction, you can target your content more effectively, which increases the chances of earning affiliate revenue.

Avoiding fad niches

Over the years, we’ve witnessed the quick rise and fall of short-lived niches. Pokemon Go had people running everywhere to catch Pokemon, becoming a global sensation almost overnight, or Fidget spinners were another short-lived craze.

Many people jumped on these trends, creating entire blogs or YouTube channels around them.

But if you look at Google Trends, you’ll see that their popularity faded quickly.

Blogs and channels that thrived during the peak of these trends often disappeared once the hype died down.

Before diving into a niche, it’s important to determine whether it’s just a fad.

Google Trends can help with this. By entering a topic, you can analyze its popularity over time and see if it has staying power.

🔑 While you might have a gut feeling about whether something is a fad, it’s always wise to back up your intuition with data from Google Trends. This way, you avoid investing time and effort into a niche that could vanish as quickly as it appeared.

Look for seasonal ideas

When planning your blog content, it’s not just about avoiding fads. It’s also about capitalizing on seasonal trends.

Suppose you’re in the productivity space, covering tools and techniques to help people stay organized.

If you search for keywords related to diaries or “planners”, you’ll notice a spike in searches at the end of December and throughout January.

This is when people are gearing up for the new year, looking to set goals and get organized.

Knowing this, you can time your blog posts to coincide with these peaks, ensuring your content gets maximum visibility when interest is highest.

Take Notion, a popular productivity app, as another example. Notion allows users to create custom workspaces for notes, tasks, and projects.

When you search for Notion on Google Trends, you’ll see spikes in interest around the end of the year.

This is when people often revamp their Notion workspaces or reorganize their online setups.

🔑 By aligning your content strategy with these seasonal trends, you can better meet your audience’s needs and maximize your blog’s impact. Always search your niche on Google Trends to catch any seasonal trends you can leverage, ensuring your content is timely and relevant.

Researching your target audience

Before you start a blog or YouTube channel, it’s crucial to thoroughly research your target audience.

Without a deep understanding of who you’re trying to reach, you risk wasting your time and energy on content that doesn’t connect with the right people.

Let me share my personal story:

I started a YouTube channel focused on Notion, covering tutorials and tips on using this popular productivity tool. I poured my heart into creating content, but I struggled to compete with other YouTubers. It took me a while to figure out why. As mine is an Indian accent, it was difficult for non-Indian viewers to follow.

One day, I decided to dig into the data by searching for the keyword “Notion” on Google Trends.

I discovered that the search interest for Notion in India was only 4.

I realized that while I was naturally attracting Indian viewers, the majority of the global Notion audience, particularly in the U.S., couldn’t resonate with my accent.

This experience taught me the importance of understanding your audience from the very beginning.

If I had researched my target audience more thoroughly before launching my channel, I might have adjusted my strategy by targeting the Indian market more directly or working on my accent to appeal to a broader audience.

👍 Google Trends can help you understand where your potential audience is located, what they’re interested in, and how best to reach them.

Research the local interests

Beyond global trends, it’s also essential to research local interests when targeting specific regions.

Google Trends allows you to do that, helping you tailor your content or marketing strategies more effectively.

For instance, let’s say you’re exploring the term “e-learning” and decide to narrow down your search to United States.

Under the “Interest by sub-region” section, you might find that certain states from U.S., like Indiana, Illinois, New York, etc. show a particularly high interest in e-learning.

This kind of insight is invaluable if you’re running an e-learning platform or selling courses.

By knowing where the interest is strongest, you can focus your ad campaigns or promotional efforts on these states.

Targeting these regions could significantly boost the effectiveness of your marketing, ensuring that your content reaches the people most likely to engage with it.

🔑 Whether you’re promoting a product, running ads, or simply trying to grow your audience, understanding local interests can give you a strategic advantage.

Supercharging Google Trends

To enhance your Google Trends experience, consider using Glimpse, a powerful Chrome extension that significantly boosts the insights you can gain from Google Trends.

Glimpse provides features like absolute search volume, which lets you see exact search numbers rather than just relative trends. It also offers trend discovery, allowing you to identify emerging topics and predict future trends with high accuracy.

For bloggers, Glimpse’s related trending queries and people also searched features are invaluable.

These tools help you uncover new content ideas by exploring related searches and topics.

⏰ Additionally, Glimpse’s trend alerts ensure you never miss out on a rising trend, making it easier to time your content for maximum impact.

Moving beyond Google Trends

If you’re serious about optimizing your content strategy and growing your online presence, especially through SEO, Semrush is a tool you can’t afford to ignore.

While Google Trends is great for identifying current trends, Semrush offers deeper insights that can transform your content strategy.

🔑 One of the most powerful features for bloggers is the Keyword Magic Tool. As mentioned earlier, this tool allows you to research relevant keywords, their metrics analyze market data, and cluster related keywords to inform your SEO strategy.

In addition to keyword research, Semrush offers Semrush Trends, which provides comprehensive traffic analytics for any website, including your competitors.

With this feature, you can gain insights into your competitors’ web traffic, marketing strategies, and overall online performance. This helps you understand where they’re succeeding and identify opportunities for your own growth.

Semrush also includes a Market Explorer tool, for exploring your niche or market.

For instance, if you enter “Nike.com” into Market Explorer, you’ll get an overview of the audience associated with the brand, including demographics, economic data, and behavior patterns.

This feature helps you understand your target audience better, especially if your content or products are related to big brands like Nike.

Additionally, Semrush allows you to create lists for different niches.

For example, you can create a list called “Cars” and add websites like bmwgroup and others.

This way, you can easily track the total market traffic, key players, and addressable market, giving you a comprehensive view of the competitive landscape.

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Conclusion

Leveraging tools like Google Trends and Semrush is essential for bloggers aiming to stay ahead of the curve.

By combining real-time trend data with deep keyword research and market insights, you can craft a content strategy that not only resonates with your audience but also drives sustainable growth.

Whether you’re identifying emerging trends, avoiding fads, or analyzing competitors, these tools empower you to make data-driven decisions that fuel your online success.