If you want to attract visitors to your website, it is important to know what they are looking for. You can use Google Trends to see the interest of a keyword over a period of time. This gives you the information you need to optimize your website content with keywords that are relevant to the current times. Google Trends displays a graph that spans about a decade or more to highlight the popularity of a keyword. In this article, we will explain the function of Google Trends and how you can use this feature to discover relevant keywords on Google.
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What Does Google Trends Do?
Google Trends is a website that lets you see how popular a keyword has been over time, past and present. It was established in 2006 and uses graphs to depict how often a term is searched. Google Trends is helpful because it can assist in determining whether or not a keyword should be used or replaced with something else. If you do not know that a keyword is outdated and use it on your website, you are not doing yourself any favors. Google Trends helps your website content stay relevant and improve its SEO.
How Does Google Trends Work?
Google Trends analyzes the top searches relative to the search volume. It also takes geography into account to accurately capture the information. Essentially, Google Trends takes each data point and divides it by the total amount of searches within its specific geography and the time period at hand in comparison to relative popularity. Google Trends also removes repeated searches from the same user that occurs during a small window for better results and to avoid data skewing. The popularity of a keyword shifts when the search volume shifts. Search volume is a measurement that shows how many people are looking for a specific query. No matter if the search volume remains the same, keyword popularity changes if the total number of searches changes.
What Are Keywords?
In SEO, keywords are terms and phrases that users look up on search engines to seek out information. In the context of content, keywords are ideas that highlight and signify what your content is about. When you input a keyword into a search engine, it will match you with the most relevant results. This is where Google Trends comes into play as a helpful tool to keep your website up to date. If you take a look at the entirety of your page including videos, images, audio, and text – the words and phrases that appear the most would be your keywords.
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research involves learning about the content, words, and phrases that your desired audience is interested in to garner more website interactions and boost rankings. It is a process to understand your audience in terms of what words they are searching in relation to your website. Google Trends can assist in keyword research because it allows you to monitor relevant, topical words over a period of time.
Why Are Google Trends and Keywords Important?
Google Trends and keywords are important because they help keep your website current and searchable. The ability to know what keywords are the most popular within your content niche can help keep your website ahead of the competition. Google Trends is an excellent tool to perform keyword research to make sure people are actually looking up the specific keywords you want to use. Keywords are a significant aspect of SEO because if people are not looking up the words found on your site, then they will not find their way there. When you find a keyword that is currently popular on Google Trends, you can build phrases and content around it. If you see a keyword on Google Trends that is on the rise, then you can utilize it early and hopefully more people get drawn to your website.
Ways to Use Google Trends for Keywords
There are different ways you can use Google Trends to identify keywords you should be using and those you shouldn’t.
Identify Seasonal Trends and Use This to Create Content
It makes sense that some terms are more popular depending on the season. For example, more people are going to be Google searching the keyword “flip-flops” in the summer months than in the winter. If you release content about flip-flops at the beginning of summer in June, you can expect it to receive more attention than if you published it in September.
You can use these trends to your advantage by creating topical content that occurs alongside the Google search peaks. It helps to plan content ahead of time to optimize a keyword’s full potential, so you are not behind the curve. You can begin page optimization a few months in anticipation of a keyword’s peak and possibly start a link-building campaign to boost rankings. You can even use this to create a content calendar in order to keep information fresh and relevant. With seasonal trends, you do not even need to create a new post every year, but simply update it before it peaks.
Avoid Temporarily Popular Keywords
This is similar to a fad – something that rises in popularity quickly but crashes just as fast. A temporarily popular keyword might work well in the short term as a passing trend. However, curating content for keywords like these is not worth it because they only generate a spike in the current moment. It is much more effective to create content with keywords that promote long-term longevity and help boost rankings over time. These temporarily popular keywords create a huge spike but they do not garner long-term traction and will quickly lose steam.
You can determine whether a keyword is gaining popularity in a sustainable way versus temporarily by looking at Google’s “Year in Searches” tab. This allows you to see how a keyword has grown over the years and the potential it has to remain valuable. Creating quality content with relevant keywords that promote long-term gain takes time, so it is important to be thorough and not fall victim to passing trends.
Look for Trending Relevant Topics
While this point may seem to negate the last point, it is important to look for trending relevant topics that have the potential for longevity rather than a fad which might include social media trends. Essentially, plan ahead by using Google Trends to track keywords that are relevant to your website and business. Google Trends helps with this because when you track a specific word or phrase, there is a table that appears next to what you search with the top five related searches. These related Google searches can also help with your content production and link building.
Utilize Trend Predictions
Google Trend predictions is an effective way to help with keyword research. This Google trend tool works by predicting trend data using existing keywords. Basically, it can help your business take action when keywords related to your company are on the rise by creating content using them. It is important to capitalize on these trend predictions and act now. If you act too late, your website will be left behind and others will gain traction instead.
Related Queries to Stay Ahead
The purpose of related queries is that they tell you what users are searching for in relation to the subject of interest. A query is often a question. So if your website has the answer to the query at hand, that can put you ahead of the competition. These related queries are extremely useful for social media and marketing campaigns because you can answer the questions of potential customers. If users are already interested in the topic and you can provide answers to their questions, a lot of the hard work is done. Researching related queries can help you understand users, including how they search and what they search.
Local SEO Optimization
One feature of Google Trends is the ability to refine and limit trends to your local geographic area. So this can help you notice the trending keywords on Google in your area and how it can relate to your business. Even if a trending keyword in your area is not completely related to your company, you can spin it and utilize it in an innovative way. For example, you can incorporate the trending keyword into your visual design or video content. You can even see keyword popularity by specific metro areas in your state and curate your content around that.
See Where Your Products and Services Are Needed Geographically
Google Trends allows you to not only filter locally but also on a national scale. This can help expand your business and reach customers all over the country. You can even see a city-level breakdown for keywords and create custom content to attract more potential customers from these locations. Another useful idea to draw in more clients is to target these areas with Adwords instead of wasting money with a national campaign. You can compare specific keywords and compare their popularity across different cities to see where you should spend your time.
FAQ:
- What are the benefits of Google Trends?
- When was Google Trends established?
- How does Google Trends help with keyword research?
- Does Google Trends help SEO?
- How do keywords help with SEO?
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