Have you ever wondered what is Google Trends and how it works?
Would you like to know what is Google Trends for practical purposes in the professional world?
Well, if the answer to all of this has been positive, you're in luck because... today we're going to explain everything you need to know so that you can use this tool in an efficient way.
What is Google trends and what is it?
Google Trends is a free tool from Google which offers us information about the popularity of a word or term specific, anywhere in the world.
In addition, we will be able to use mode search to find other keywords, whether they are directly or indirectly related to the term that we are introducing.
Finally, its practical applications are endless if you want to discover the latest trends of your country, the area in which you are in, or where you want.
So, once you view all of the functionality that gives us to know how to use Google Trends, we will detail in the different case studies in which this tool can be extremely useful:
- Learn about seasonal markets
Let's imagine that we have a digital marketing agency (either that we bet on the seo positioning or positioning of payment) and we want to better understand the market in which to move our customers. Or let's imagine that we want to start a business or open up a way to a market that is unknown to us, and we need to gather information about this...
In any case, know how to use Google Trends, we will be super useful to gather information about the industry, as well as to discover whether the market in which we are entering is seasonal or not.
In the case that this statement were true, Google Trends will help us to find the best time of year for that business, and, in consequence, what will be the best time to give that little push to campaigns, collaborations or investments.
Below, I have left a very representative, who will help us to understand perfectly the concept of this point.
And is that, let's imagine that we want to enter in the tourism sector with a travel agency or a website of packs for vacation. In this case, Google Trends is going to be of the first tools that ojearemos in order to find the best seasonal periods to enhance our products.
And as you can see in the image, we have entered a search term that is very typical of the seasonal periods, it will help us to understand very well the idea: “Holiday”.
In this case, we see clearly, the interest generated by this concept reaches its peak over the summer months (June, July and August), which is when you usually users are concerned about their vacation.
Also, if we had as a client a travel agency or, on the contrary, we would like to introduce us in the tourism industry, we must bear in mind that the summer months are going to be that we have to take advantage to launch campaigns and/or to enhance our products.
In the same way, if we go to the other sector as may be the wood, we see that the trend is completely opposite: growing demand in the months of winter, and decreasing in the other months of the year.
- Interest areas
Another of the case studies more useful that provides us with the tool, Google Trends, is able to identify the areas where our concept or intention of searching have more interest.
That is to say, recovering the case of the travel agency, we are going to be useful to know what areas show more interest in our products. This, of course, we are going to be useful not only to better understand the market, but to be able to better align our business strategy to our potential user.
Practical example:
Let's imagine that our travel agency, we offer holiday products to the iberian peninsula, and we have a Budget of X to devote to capture potential customers.
Following the previous point, we agree that, in the first place, we should focus on the strategy for the summer months (which is when the user shows more interest in our products), but... What areas of the Spanish territory are more likely to go on holiday?
So very easy. Just below the graph of the interest over time, we find the following information: Interest by subregion.
This is going to be super helpful, to focus our commercial efforts in terms of investments to capture our potential client is referred to.
Here, we are going to make between a scale of 0 to 100, the sub-regions that are looking for with our search term. In this case it would be Navarra, the principality of Asturias and Castilla-La Mancha as finalists in the top 3.
Also, continuing with the example opposite, we see as if we changed the search term, interests, geographic also vary. Being Galicia region more demand for firewood, followed by Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha.
- Related searches
Another of the most interesting features that we can take advantage of Google Trends, is to find a search related to the search term, in which we are interested.
This means that, if we enter a search term of any, Google Trends is going to give us suggestions of similar searches: which we're going to go super well to complement our strategy of key words.
Continuing with the example of the term “Vacation”, we see the searches related to the same, are the following:
As we can see in the image, we can sense that, if we have to give out or to enhance any of our products, a good idea will be to focus on the apartments, and that these apartments are located in coastal areas, since what you are looking for the users, they are a vacation in which you can bathe, enjoy the sunshine...
With only 2 terms, we have already been able to find out the search intent of the user and assigning it to the products that we'll be interested to offer to our end customer. In this way, we could continue to elaborate on this, just search for the term “holiday beach” in the search engine of Google Trends, and continue pulling the thread.
In this way, we get a lot of information and a lot more specific about the trend of each search term over time, the areas that show more interest towards this concept, and see the suggested words to re-start the process.
The good thing about all this is that we can make as many searches as you want, unlimited, and completely free. So a good practice before you start a business or before you start to work with a client, is to know how it behaves every one of their products, to be able to have absolute control of the market and its trends.
- Comparison of search terms
Finally, the last case study we are going to be very useful when choosing the keywords or to carry out our strategy, will be to buy concepts or terms to search for.
Google Trends gives us the possibility to compare between different concepts, up to a maximum of 5 search terms at the same time. In this way, we will be able to be autonomous and to make judgments as to what products we're going to give more coverage, and which ones less.
Continuing with the travel agency and vacation packages, perhaps, we will be arising the question of What is the public that generates more demand and, therefore, that I should apply to?
Very easy: Suppose that the sale of packs of holiday, we can segment in target for different (family Vacation, vacation in a couple...). Obviously, each one is going to offer a specific type of product, but... what they should prioritize in terms of demand?
In this case, we have done the search comparative together all the target audiences to which we offer our products:
- A holiday with the children.
- Vacation in a couple.
- Vacation with friends.
- Just vacation.
- Group holidays.
And the result is more than obvious. In this case, if we were to focus efforts on focusing only on a target, this would be the one of the families, since, without doubt, is the one that generates the most interest above all others.
How does Google Trends?
Once we have seen the big 4 practical applications, and how these can play a crucial role in our day-to-day as entrepreneurs, experts in digital marketing or as a company that wants to reinvent itself, now let's see what specific features we offer Google Trends, so that we can customize the most of our reports, and make the most out of the tool.
Geographical area
Before using the tool, Google Trends, we will focus our efforts in a geographical area in particular (depending on where you are, our potential market or our public interest).
Also, Google Trends gives us to choose any country of the world. In our case, we have concentrated our search in Spain:
- Sub-regions and Cities: This option, the contraremos once the search is complete, and consists of the following: first, if not specified otherwise, Google Trends, we are going to show the sub-regions of Spain. But we must keep in mind that we also offer the option of searching for cities. This option will be useful if we want to delve into the strategy by geographical areas.
Period of time
On the other hand, there is the time factor. This is going to give us to choose the results based on the months or years that we determine. What we can serve this functionality? Well, basically to understand the evolution of the sector over time, to see if the interest remains stable over time, otherwise, if this goes up, or see if the trend is going down:
Categories
Another of the factors that we can save a lot of headaches, is to define a category (if and when needed).
When we are going to be useful to this option? Well then, let's use this functionality when our search term can lead to confusion, whether, for example because the search term has a different meaning, and we want the suggestions that we receive, in keeping with our intention to search.
Example: Cat (animal) Cat (tool to lift the car).
Search for channels
In this section, it will be interesting to take it into account if we want to check the trends of our products or services in the various search channels.
Among them are: image Search, Google Shopping Search, Youtube Search...
Related topics: rising vs. Main
This is one of the features that many ignore it, and they're going to do to vary our subjects, or related queries.
And is that, if not specified otherwise, Google Trends, we will show you the related keywords that are on the rise.
This is interesting to consider that we are not showing the main keywords for the search term that we are introducing. To change this option, we will have to click on the “rising”, and select “Primary”.
Download report
To all this, the most interesting highlight of the tool, Google Trends, is that all the data that we offer, you can download it.
This is an advantage, since we can get the data to work calmly in our device and, in this way, to plan a much better strategy that we are going to draw.
