Have you ever wished you had a crystal ball to tell you what your customers were thinking? While it won’t predict the lottery numbers, Google Trends comes pretty close when it comes to understanding what people are searching for online. And good news, it’s a completely free tool which is super easy to use!
So, you’re wondering “How can Google Trends help grow my business?” In this blog I’ll fill you in on what Google Trends is, how it works, and how business owners can use it to up their marketing game and grow their business.
What is Google Trends?
In a nutshell, Google Trends is a free online tool that lets you explore what people are searching for online.
Don’t worry if you’re not technical – Google Trends is super easy to use: there’s three tabs – Home, Explore & Trending Now.
Using the Home tab you can see an overview, search trending topics and browse learning resources.
The Trending Now tab helps you to browse trending topics using a variety of filters including beauty and fashion, entertainment, politics, business and finance.
Using the Explore tab you can simply type in a word, phrase or service, and it will show you how interest in that topic has changed over time.
How can Google Trends help grow my business?
Armed with the data from Google Trends, you can plan marketing campaigns, spot trends and understand when potential customers will be most interested in your products or services. So, if you want to know when people start searching for “Christmas gift ideas”, Google Trends has got you covered.
As a bonus, you can dive deeper and look at search term trends by region, which is brilliant if you’re looking to target an audience in a particular location.
Now that we’ve covered what Google Trends is, let’s look at how else you can use it to give your business a boost.
- Discover trending topics
Relevance is important for any marketing campaign, so make sure your business is part of the important conversations happening in your industry. Google Trends tells you the search topics that are trending right now, so you can jump on them before your competitors do.
- Business development
Thinking about adding a new service or product to your business? Before you invest your money (and time), check google trends to see if demand is growing, steady or declining.
I recently worked with a beauty therapist who was considering training in a few new treatments. By digging into Google Trends, we could see which treatments were on an upwards trend and gaining traction, and which ones had already peaked and were declining. It helped her make confident decisions about where to invest her energy and grow her income.
- Planning and timing your marketing campaigns
Imagine a world where you know exactly when your customers were starting to search for your services – then you could time your marketing campaigns perfectly to match their needs. Google Trends makes this foresight a reality. Combining Google Trends information with your own marketing data will help you make an informed diary of events and services to cover the whole year.
I worked with a massage therapist to help them plan their social media marketing content for the whole year. Using Google Trends, we mapped out when different types of massages – from deep tissue to aromatherapy, were most popular. This meant they could start posting and promoting their services just as people were looking for them.
- Product research
If you sell products, whether online or in a shop, Google Trends is your secret weapon for smarter stock planning.
I supported a gift shop owner who noticed that most of their sales clustered around Christmas. By reviewing their existing products on Google Trends, we spotted gaps in the calendar and added new products that peaked in spring and summer too. It helped even out their sales throughout the year, so they spent less time worrying about cash flow, and more time on growing the business.
Learn how to use Google Trends for social media marketing
If you’re keen to learn more about how you can put Google Trends into practise, get yourself along to my next social media marketing workshop. I’ll show you how to plan your social media content for the next 12 months, utilising the power of Google Trends! You’ll also discover the power of AI and scheduling tools to help you work efficiently and smash your marketing goals.
