When people have questions, they turn to Google for answers, judging by the 5.6 billion Google searches that are conducted every day. Day or night, online searches put the power of freely accessible information at consumers’ fingertips .
These billions of searches become a form of business intelligence through tools like Google Trends. Like a window into the minds of consumers, Google Trends spotlights what information people are seeking connected to an industry or product and gives marketers an additional source of external data when planning marketing strategy.
What Does Google Trends Mean for Businesses?
Google Trends is an unbiased sample of Google search data – both in real time and non-real time. All searches are anonymized (not personally identifiable to one person), categorized by topic, and aggregated.
Marketers can search for any topic or set of search terms on Google. This data can be filtered by location, date, categories, search section, and by topics vs search terms. Google Trends offers highly valuable information about what people are interested in on any given topic. This, in turn, can inform a marketing strategy that connects with potential customers at a point of need
Keyword search information helps businesses determine what topics or content types are likely to drive people to their website for information, or which terms they might capitalize on in paid search and digital marketing campaigns. This form of research is foundational to effective search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM).
Capitalizing on Google Trends Information
When browsing Google Trends with strategic business intent, search topics in your field to get a sense of which timely information will drive people to your website or make your digital ad copy resonate. What keywords or phrases are currently generating interest, and how can you address them in a valuable way?
Here are four ways your business can use Google Trends to gain a competitive edge.
- Gain insight into product development. Thinking about expanding your product features, offering a new product or moving into a new geographical area? You can combine Google Trends information with other market research to help evaluate interest for a product, service or feature. If there isn’t much data on important keywords for your product, you may need to consider exploring a different region or market.
- Conduct competitor research. What do consumers think about your key competitors? Explore what search terms are associated with your competitor’s name to better understand your competition.
Let’s say you’re a local sandwich shop and you want to see what’s trending with national chains like Subway. You can use the topic box in Google Trends to enter your competitors individually and see what keywords are most searched. You can use that information to make sure you’re delivering both website content and menu items that match what consumers are “hungering” for.
- Tap into trending topics. Are there seasonal elements to your business? Google Trends offers a visual timeline that shows when and how much a specific keyword was searched for. That information can be used to seasonally optimize your website content and social media efforts.
- Take air conditioners, for example. If you sell air conditioners and offer air conditioning maintenance services, around what time do people in your area start thinking about those services? What related terms do they use in their searches – are there problems they are looking to solve or avoid? Try providing solutions or helpful tips in a blog article. Making sure your website and social media channels reflect these terms will direct more potential customers to your website.
Or, you can use the trending searches feature to tap into current events to tie back to your business – when there’s a relevant angle. When murder hornets were in the news, pest control companies could have created educational or helpful content related to top keyword searches to connect their services to a topic that was capturing interest. But, don’t try to capitalize on a topic simply because it’s trending. If you don’t have something valuable to offer, the strategy won’t be effective and worse, could damage your reputation if executed poorly.
- Identify local opportunities. When you enter a keyword or topic into Google trends, you can view the search popularity by region of the United States. This can help to identity potential areas where your product or service may be needed. You can click into specific states to see how that search has trended over time, and in which metros it had the most interest. Then, you can cost-effectively run digital ad campaigns targeting very specific locations, or adding geo-specific content to your website. Continuing with our air conditioning company example, that might look something like “5 Ways Biloxi Residents Can Save on Air Conditioning Bills.”
Google Trends can provide interesting and valuable data, particularly when combined with other more powerful tools. Consult with it regularly because search trends change over time – and so should your data marketing strategy. Keep your ear to the ground – er, Google – and capitalize on evolving interests and local dynamics to stand out. You can work with the data marketing experts at B2E to turn Google Trend data into targeted, cost-effective, and data-driven marketing strategy.