Marketers spend a significant portion of their working lives attempting to get inside the heads of consumers. What better way to peer into the minds of internet users than to review their search histories?

Whether we realize it or not, every query we plug into a search engine is like a digital diary of our thoughts, our wants, our curiosities. Businesses looking to harness this information need look no further than the Google Trends tool.

Its recent redesign focuses on ‘editorial data-based stories’ helping content concerned marketers tailor their blog topics, key in on keywords, and solidify their social media strategies by utilizing trending data from trillions of online searches.

The data explorer lets you see what users around the world are querying in real-time and overtime – for free. It’s like looking at key topics in Google’s search engine with a magnifying glass. Newer features also let you drill down and get granular, as though you were analyzing searches with a microscope.

What else should you know about the Google Trends update and how can you use it to improve your digital marketing strategy? That’s what we aim to unpack.

Redesign Features

It all starts with a search term. Type your topic of choice into the search bar at the top, and you’ll see four subcategories below. These drop-downs let you contextualize trends based on geographic location, timeframe, different industries, and, most notably, types of search.

Since Google’s algorithms, and search results, are so multi-faceted it makes sense to broaden yours beyond web links alone. The update allows you to also refine your exploration across verticals like videos, news, and images.

In addition to these, other standout feature updates include:

• Real-time trending search data denoted by the word ‘breakout’.
• Curated data stories courtesy of the Google News Lab team. (Plus real-world visualizations created by international newsroom designers.)
• Aggregated official Year in Search information for the last 17 years, showing how various topics have performed over time.
• Intensity mapping and info graphs for meaningful topic comparison.

Once you have the data, it’s time to put it to good use!

Best Ways to use Google Insights

Internet users have done the work of popularizing certain terms. Now, it’s your job to put them to use. Next time you sit down with your team to create or present a content strategy, make sure you leverage Google Insights and Trends to help you pique the interest of your target audience.

Some of the best ways we’ve found to make use of Google trends are:

1. Optimizing your keywords for your PPC and online advertising campaigns.
2. Creating content calendars and press releases that resonate.
3. Marketing to potential customers based on what they’re searching for in their location.
4. Researching which keywords have grown in popularity from year to year.
5. Seeking out new audiences that resonate with your products and services.
6. Visualizing your product with new photos that correspond to different markets.
7. Utilizing the related topics section to create compelling video content based on searches.

Simply put, anyone with a Google account has access to this wealth of info, and businesses looking to increase their web traffic and conversions have found it to be an invaluable part of their marketing plans. The way we see it, as far as free tools go, this one is more than a passing trend.

Want some help analyzing Google Trends? We’ll help you strategize into the stratosphere!