Google Trends: What It Is & How to Use it for SEO
  • alert Important Alert:
  •                       Beware of fake job offers and payment requests. We only use official email IDs and never conduct interviews on messaging apps. Beware of fake job offers and payment requests. We only use official email IDs and never conduct interviews on messaging apps.

How to Use Google Trends for SEO: A Complete Guide

SEO

Published: Apr 16, 2024

,  

Updated on: Aug 23, 2025

How to Use Google Trends for SEO

Summary: Google Trends is a free platform by Google that uses data-driven insights to help brands make informed decisions, refine their approaches, and gain an edge over their competitors. It is your organisation’s best bet as you strive to keep up with the dynamic global markets. Keep reading to learn 8 key tips on how you can use Google Trends for SEO to grow your business.

To give your business a stronger chance to adapt and innovate, you must follow changing trends in customer behaviour, buying patterns, global and local markets, and other independent factors. Not only do you need a powerful tool like Google Trends to find new insights, but you also need a strategic approach and data expert to help you use those insights as you develop your SEO strategy.

Key Takeaways:-

  • Google Trends offers valuable insights, helpful in your marketing strategies.
  • Use the platform to discover your niche and related keywords.
  • Identify ‘breakout’ and ‘trendy’ keywords.
  • Gain insights into your competition and local search trends.
  • Generate ideas for different content formats including blogs, images, and video.

What is Google Trends?

Google Trends is a highly specialised tool that gives you a detailed report instantly on what’s hot in the world of search. It shows you which search terms your customers use, and how frequently they search, and compares it to all the other searches on Google. It also points out the current trends within your geographical search radius and gives you a glimpse of both existing and future search patterns – showing how they change over time and across different areas.

Suppose you’re running a business with off-season and on-season, such as decorations or flowers, using Google Trends for SEO helps you identify critical factors that you might have overlooked all this while. For example, it helps you pinpoint the exact time of the shift in customer behaviour and shows you how people’s behaviours change.

Most users stay away from Google Trends because they assume it’s complicated. However, the powerful Google Trends platform is highly intuitive and completely free to use. All you need to do is type in a keyword and change the filters and settings to get the required data points. Settings you can change for a deeper understanding include the period, location, and domain (news, YouTube, shopping, etc).

Advanced Google Trends Features For SEO You Should Be Using

Interest Over Time

Google Trends allows you to track the popularity of a keyword over a specified time range. This feature is useful for identifying seasonal trends and understanding how interest in a topic evolves. Using Google Trends for SEO, you can pinpoint when specific topics or keywords are gaining momentum.

Geographical Insights

With geographical insights, you can see where your target keywords are most popular. This is crucial for localizing content and refining SEO strategies for different regions. Whether you are tracking global trends or focusing on specific areas, these insights help tailor your approach. If you’re working on google trends for websites, these insights are particularly useful to focus on local SEO opportunities.

Related Queries

Google Trends provides a list of related queries that are gaining traction alongside your main keyword. This feature not only helps in discovering new keyword opportunities but also keeps you on top of emerging trends in your niche. Incorporating these insights can elevate your Google Trends in SEO efforts by targeting keywords gaining momentum.

Compare Multiple Keywords

Google Trends allows you to compare multiple keywords simultaneously. This feature enables you to analyze the relative popularity of different terms, giving you valuable insights into how various keywords are performing. It’s a great tool for comparing how different keywords resonate across different time frames or regions.

Trending Searches

Google Trends also provides insights into daily and real-time trending searches, which allows you to stay up-to-date with the most current topics. By monitoring trending searches, you can adapt your content strategy to align with what’s trending and increase your visibility.

cta image
Discover What Your Customers Search For Discover What Your Customers Search For

Get insights on evolving customer behaviour, high volume keywords, search trends, and more.

How Does Google Trends Work for SEO?

There are many ways to use Google Trends for SEO based on your business and growth objectives. Make sure you take a strategic approach to your business SEO plan, or at least consult an SEO expert to do it for you. Here are a few strategic steps to help you reach your goal.

1. Find your niche

Finding a niche is the first step in targeting the right audience.

Start by identifying and noting down topics that will be relevant to your audience using your market research and business experience. Then use Google Trends to check how the search terms perform with each other.

For example, assume you’re starting a clothing company. Before you execute your communication strategy, make sure you know the types of searches people make.

Types of searches people make
 

Look for steady-growth niches, but make sure you don’t overlook new market entrants and competitors.

Steady-growth niches
 

One method most businesses use is considering fast-growing topics for quick profits. While this could help your business take off, their staying power isn’t guaranteed. Use these insights to tweak your approach and make the most of your market opportunities.

2. Find related keywords

Sometimes it’s hard to find exactly what people are searching for simply using a manual search entry. To help with this, Google Trends offers trending-related keywords, a handy feature for marketing firms planning SEO strategies for their clients. It shows you additional relevant keywords and search terms based on your original search, ranked by popularity and search volume increase.

Say you’re looking for trends during the IPL season. Rishabh Pant seems to be the trending topic.

Find related keywords
 

Once you use this search term, Google Trends also gives you several search terms and keywords related to this search that could either narrow your search or expand your perspective.

3. Find ‘breakout’ keywords

Sometimes, Google Trends shows “Breakout,” instead of a rise in percentage, indicating a surge of over 5,000%. In the screenshot above, you can see this term used. SEO experts value breakout terms for their low competition, potentially securing a top Google ranking swiftly. This means if you can create and publish content using these terms at this time, your content will be more likely to reach the first page of the search results.

Find ‘breakout’ keywords
 

The reason breakout keywords work so well is because these keywords are not counted in the competition… yet. This gives you a first-mover advantage and should you choose to leverage this keyword, you might find yourself on the first page of Google’s search results before anyone else has a chance to leverage these keywords.

Fallout based on the popular video game
 

In the graph above, you can see the interest shown in the TV series Fallout based on the popular video game. Notice the steep dotted line rising at the end, indicating the sudden increase in searches related to the show. Often businesses and brands use PR and targeted marketing campaigns to get certain terms trending on social media platforms. As a result, the searches for these terms also rise, resulting in greater business awareness and lead generation, as seen in the Fallout example. While this is useful, things change fast. Breakouts are often fads that die out as quickly as they rise because they’re mostly intended to trend for a short period. So if you plan to leverage them, make sure you do it in the moment while the trend is still hot.

4. Know your competition

It’s always important to know what works and doesn’t work for your business based on what your competitors have done. When you search for fast food on Google Trends, you will find that related topics include Domino’s, Burger King and other giants.

Know your competition
 

Suppose a large fast food company enters the Indian market. According to its history, other markets liked it for its high-quality food and portions. However, the sales might have dipped despite there being no change in the quality of food. On observing Google Trends reports, you might find that other fast food companies are more successful because of promotions, offers and freebies. Using this insight, the fast-food giant could make a few concessions on the quality of the food and reduce their menu price, thus increasing their profit margins.

Addition read: How to conduct seo competitor analysis

5. Find related topics for blog and video content

Google Trends also has a related topics section in the UI that can help you find topics related to the one you’re working on.

The concept is the same as related queries, but instead of looking for words related to a specific search term, it finds broader topics related to the one you’re currently working on. This can help businesses build their social media plans, populate their YouTube channel, or enhance the quality of topics they cover. The list you will see includes all the topics that Google believes are related to the term you’re searching for.

6. Find keywords for YouTube videos

People use different platforms for different purposes. A popular search term on Google might not be so popular on YouTube.

For example, you might search for a generic query around Python on Google. But on YouTube, you’ll be more likely to search for a tutorial. So, based on your business niche and the kind of content you’re making, it helps to have a deeper understanding of both platforms, especially if you’re planning to diversify your content from text and image-based content to include video as well.

7. Identify local search trends

The Google Trends map you will see below the graph provides deep insights into search terms in your local geographical area.

Identify local search trends
 

Suppose you run a book company. The trend map will show you that the demand for Arundhati Roy’s books doubled in one state compared to the rest of India. In another state, the demand for Jeffrey Archer books may have risen. Using these insights that Google Trends generates, businesses can create customised marketing campaigns for each region instead of a blanket selling plan that doesn’t target anyone specifically. You can also customise your offers and promotions based on trending user behaviour. Additionally, understanding customer behaviour can help businesses expand into new markets based on data-driven research.

How to get started?

Using Google Trends for SEO can be a game changer for your online business. What you need is an expert to guide you through the pitfalls, continuously observe changing trends, and help your business evolve with the changing trends.

If you’re not sure where to start, contact us for a free online consultation. We have helped many leaders across industries to plan and execute strategic SEO campaigns and would be happy to do so for you. Get in touch with our experts today.

linkedin logo

Neha Bawa

Director of Brand Marketing

Neha Bawa is the Director of Brand Marketing at Techmagnate. She has worked in Digital Marketing since 2012 and has specialised in content creation. She has earned a Master’s degree in Interactive Communications from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, U.S.A. Her interests lie in creating great content, docs, and working towards sustainability through biodiversity.

Our Key Clients
bajaj finserv
giis
herofincorp
hyundai
View All
cta image
Discover What Your Customers Search For Discover What Your Customers Search For

Get insights on evolving customer behaviour, high volume keywords, search trends, and more.

Popular Posts
Request a Call back Now
Experience Results That Matter!

Discover how we boosted our clients' search visibility and business growth.

View Case Studies
Our Key Clients
bajaj finserv
giis
herofincorp
hyundai
View All
Techmagnate's Search Trends Reports

Get the most valuable search related insights about leading brands, trending keywords, search volumes, fastest growing categories, city-level insights and much more!

Explore Now
Stay Up to Date with Our News & Events!

Get updates on Industry insights, upcoming events, and key announcements, all in one place.

Explore Now
Hit To Expand icon
close
request image

Grow Your Leads & Sales by 10X with our Digital Marketing services

Request a Call
Techmagnate Logo

Build a Better Digital Marketing Strategy with Techmagnate’s Search Trends Reports

Join 150+ businesses maximizing their ROI !

Featuring brands like

  • logo
  • logo
  • logo
  • logo

and many more!