First up — what exactly is Google Trends?

Google Trends is one of those tools most business owners have never even heard of but should have. It’s a platform that maps trends across the web according to how often they’re searched for at different times of year, within language and geographical constraints. It also enables you to compare trends and phrases for interesting insights into your industry.

Although it might not seem immediately relevant to your niche, there are a few very powerful reasons why you should use Google Trends — at least just a few times to get some ideas, if not regularly.

Here are a few of the main reasons we use Google Trends, and some ways you can use it to your advantage.

Keep up to date in your industry

When something big happens in your niche in another part of the world, you want to know about it. Even just keeping afloat with different sections of your industry that are trending higher than others, can give you some information towards deciding where demand is opening up for new branches of your business.

Changing keyword strategies

Google Trends is a fantastic way to see what people are actually typing in when they search for something. For example, people are now starting to realise that you don’t have to type your exact question into Google, just a few words. Let’s use accounting as an example:

  • 5 years ago someone may have typed into Google: “Where can I get my income tax returns done cheaply?”
  • 3 years ago they may have typed: “cheap places income tax return Brisbane”
  • Now they might write something like: “cheap it returns”

Notice the trend has been to abbreviate each time, and finally, down to “cheap it returns”, where “income tax” has been abbreviated down to “it”.

If you can see a trend like this happening, you can start to go after these new keywords and phrases people are using, and capitalise on it. However, without this advantage, you’ll miss out on opportunities like this. This is vital info for an effective SEO or SEM campaign.

Latching on to hot topics

Keeping up with hot trends and topics in the world can be a source of inspiration and ideas to incorporate into your business. Some businesses will use trends in their business to encourage new customers to better relate to the business, and create a wider customer base.

For example, the market of teens through to the mid 20’s is a hot market, but do you know how to connect with them? Also, are the traditional consumers of a family and two children still purchasing in the same way, or have they changed how they relate to companies?

New business ideas

Whenever something massive happens around the world, no matter if it is tragedy, discovery, a blessing or a triumph, a group of select people around the world are making a successful business out of it. As a business owner yourself, just scanning through Google Trends is a way to get sparks of creativity, and consider new markets to enter.

We find that Google Trends is a source of inspiration, and if you get creative enough you can find more than enough ideas to leverage and expand your business, and gain more traffic. Give it a try, and take a look around — you may find something incredible.

Bambrick is Brisbane’s leading SEO company. We have helped hundreds of companies with their SEO, PPC and Social Media campaigns and welcome the opportunity to help you achieve your digital marketing goals, whether that’s ranking on the first page of Google’s search results, harnessing the power of Google AdWords for a short-term or seasonal campaign, or optimising your website to enhance your conversion rate. Talk to us today about your digital marketing needs.