Ever wondered what the world (or, say, Basingstoke) has been searching for recently? Google Trends has the answer.
By looking at popular search terms over time, online business owners can use it to better understand what customers want.
Spotting patterns helps you make smarter decisions. It’s free and easy at google.com/trends/
What is Google Trends?
First launched in 2006, Google Trends is a free tool that shows what people have been searching for on Google.
Trends reveals which topics are catching attention – be it a fashion trend, a viral news story, popular travel locations, or the latest must-have item.
More than that, it helps you spot popular topics and patterns over time, giving insight into what’s hot and what’s not. Whether you’re curious about searches across the world or closer to home, Google Trends is the place to look.
How does Google Trends work?
When we talk about “trends” here, we mean Keyword Search Volume — how often a specific word or phrase is searched for within a set timeframe.
Unlike keyword tools showing exact monthly volumes, Google Trends shows relative popularity, scaled from 0 to 100.
Type in a keyword and you’ll see graphs showing how interest in that term has changed. You can dig deeper by filtering results by category, country, region, or time frame.
Why use Google Trends?
If you run an online store, you might use these insights to see what products are “hot” right now. A spike in searches for a particular item, for example, could signal a big seller.
Planning an ad campaign? Trends can show you if interest in a product is rising or falling, helping you create ads more likely to connect with customers.
If we seem Google-centric, it’s only because the search giant holds a huge 93.6% share of the UK search engine market. For reference, Microsoft’s Bing is a distant second, at 3.9%!
Of course, Google Trends isn’t just for businesses — content creators, journalists, and just about anyone can use it to see what stories and topics are getting attention.
How do I use Google Trends?
First stop: open google.com/trends (or trends.google.com). You’ll land on the homepage overview and the main Explore section.
Type your keyword or phrase into the search bar. As you type, you’ll see related suggestions pop up.
For example, let’s say you’re an online shop researching “Sandals.”
By default, results show interest from your home country over the last 12 months. You can change the timeframe to anything from the past hour to as far back as 2004.
To focus on shopping intent, select the Shopping category rather than general interest.
Not surprisingly, UK interest in sandals rises in spring and continues through summer — with a few interesting bumps along the way. These unexpected spikes might be due to changing fashion trends, weather events, or viral topics.
Comparing multiple keywords
Data doesn’t mean much without something to compare it to, so let’s compare different search terms.
Let’s compare “Sandals” with “Halloween Costumes.” Switch the timeframe to the last 90 days to make it clearer, keeping Shopping as the category.
Observe! Sandal searches drop off from late August as the great British public turns its attention to fancy dress in October.
Sure, we probably didn’t need Google Trends to tell us costumes are popular before Halloween — but it’s a good example of how the tool works. Apply it to discover trends relevant to your business.
While Trends can’t give projections, looking back to last year, interest in Halloween Costumes peaked in the week starting October 22nd.
Exploring regional interest
Scroll below the graphs to find a map showing popularity by region.
The Interest by Sub-region feature lets you zoom in on specific locations, down to cities or towns. This helps you see where certain products are more popular, or spot geographic differences in search behaviour.
Values range from 0 to 100, with 100 being the area where the term is most popular relative to total searches. A value of 50 means it’s half as popular, while 0 means there wasn’t enough data.
By default, you’ll see the UK divided into its four sub-regions. Seeing what’s popular in Wales or Scotland might be useful. For more in-depth info, click ‘City’ to get a full list of towns and cities.
Sandals are incredibly popular with the residents of Beckenham, for some reason…
If you’re interested: sandals are of least interest to the final and 203rd town on the list: Kirkintilloch, Scotland!
Remember — a high score means a higher percentage of searches, not necessarily a higher total. Sandals might be very popular in Dewsbury, but there would still likely be more total searches in London.
Note: Trends usually shows only the top dozen or so locations. Click the download CSV button (downward arrow) to get a full list.
Related topics and related queries
You’ll need to download the CSV spreadsheet for a full list.
For example, Birkenstock Sandals come up as a top related topic, while Ugg Goldenglow Sandals is a top related query. If you’re an online retailer, these insights are gold.
Breakout queries
Keep an eye out for queries labelled “Breakout.” These are searches that have increased by over 5000%, often due to viral trends or sudden news coverage. They can reveal emerging opportunities before competitors catch on.
Google Trends for YouTube
Trends isn’t just for standard search queries — you can also use it to see what’s big on YouTube.
You’ll gain similar insight into what’s hot to sell online right now. If you’re a content creator yourself, you might use this info to reach a wider audience and gain more views.
For fun, let’s take kimchi and sauerkraut as examples. (I had an inkling kimchi has got a lot more popular in the UK over the last decade)
Let’s set the time frame as far as we can go. Google acquired YouTube in 2006, but accurate regional data for YouTube content starts around 2017.
As I suspected — it looks like kimchi overtook sauerkraut in popularity in the UK at some point around 2020-21.
Note the sudden lack of data for one period. Gaps like this tend to be down to changes happening at Google.
Looking at the comparison breakdown by sub-region, kimchi is a clear winner in England, and just ahead in Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland still sides with sauerkraut for the time being.
Trending now
On the main homepage, Trending Now shows what people are currently searching for. It updates in real time and you can filter by country.
If something piques your interest, click for a deeper dive into charts, related topics, and news articles that expand on that trend.
While it mostly covers major news events (some grim), it’s a quick way to spot topics everyone’s talking about. Clicking on a trend gives you related news articles and search breakdowns.
Google Trends for SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is all about improving your website to make it more visible on search engines like Google. You can use Google Trends to attract more visitors by finding popular trending topics and making sure those keywords are found across your website.
If you’re targeting a specific area, Google Trends helps you understand what people are searching for locally. This helps you make sure your content reaches the right people. Keep an eye on what’s new and exciting so you can stay ahead of the game.
This will make your website content more appealing to search engines and the people who searching for what you’re offering. Google Trends can also inform organic content, like blogs.
See also: Local SEO in 10: How Do I Get My Business Found Online? and SEO Essentials: The A-Z SEO Guide
What can’t Google Trends do?
While Google Trends is useful and free to use, it does have its limitations.
Mostly, it only focuses on high-trending searches and sometimes lacks data for less popular ones. This is often true for the more niche topics, and can be a pain for businesses focused on a specific industry.
Neither can Trends give any context to the info it gives. ie., it can’t tell you why a term is trending — and it’s easy to draw the wrong conclusions if you without digging a bit deeper.
Finally, a sudden spike in searches doesn’t always mean something positive is happening. Trending topics might not be trending for the right reasons (think recalled cars, contaminated foods, naughty CEOs, and so on). As ever, the negative news tends to rise the top.
So, it’s best to use Trends with lots of intuition and a pinch of salt.
Explore more
But wait, there’s more! Check out the Made With Trends section if you’re after creative inspiration. This is a zone for interesting projects and visualisations, often with themed or seasonal focus. It shows how versatile Google Trends can be for anyone interested in storytelling through data.
If you want to go further, the Dive Deeper section offers tools for analysing trends in depth. You can compare different topics over time, explore related subjects, and even export the data for your own analysis. It’s perfect for those looking to get more “granular” with their trend research.
You can use Google Trends together with other tools, like Google Analytics, to get a more complete picture of your online performance.
Wrap Up
Google Trends is a powerful tool to stay ahead of the curve and make data-led decisions for your online business. Keep exploring different search terms and settings to uncover insights that give you an edge.
