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Google Search Insights – Understanding Google Keyword Trends for Websites

Keywords are an essential part of every website SEO (search engine optimization) effort. There are several ways to find just the right words to focus on. Either you examine your competitor’s marketing efforts and seek out their keywords (using them as your own in unique content, of course), or you utilize a product like Google Trends and analyze Google search insights.

Google search insights main image

In order to get the best Google search insights, you’re better off using the latter, as it will help you determine the keywords that you need to be focusing on.

Why You Need to Use Good SEO Practices – Some Background to Get Things Started

In order for your customers and clients to find your website, you need to follow a practice called search engine optimization, or SEO for short. This requires a number of different things, from good SEO-optimized images to content that includes a number of keywords. Every search engine uses something that they call bots. These bots crawl the internet and examine every website that they come across.

If you utilize good SEO practices, then the next time someone does a keyword search, your website will pop up in the top ten results. Since many people don’t scroll down or even click on the next page of results, this is a very good thing. However, some search engines will punish you for not following SEO standards or trying to cheat the system.

As a result, you need to follow a number of unspoken rules and change up your keywords from time to time depending on trends.

What Is Google Search Insights?

Google trending searches and Google Search Insights

Google, the company that runs the top (and most popular) search engine, has a tool called Google Trends.

For several years, this tool was called Google Search Insights (also known as Google Insights for Search), before it went back to being called Google Trends. What this tool does is tell you the best keywords to use at any particular time. These Google keyword trends vary, depending on the type of business that you run and where your company is located.

For example, if you live in Chicago, Illinois and run a small independent toy store, your Google keyword trends will be focused on those circumstances. This allows you to find the right keywords for your needs – without stretching them to make them fit.

How Do Certain Keywords End up Trending?

This is the real question. How do these keywords end up at the top of the Google trends for websites lists? Well, most of this process depends on how often people end up searching for a particular term.

Every time a person goes to Google – or any other search engine – and looks up something, that website makes a note of it. If a lot of people begin searching for those same terms at the same time, it becomes a trend on Google search insights. These trends can be broken down by location, which we’ve already discussed, as well as by time of year.

Determining “Peak” Times for Certain Keywords

One of the best things about Google search insights is the fact that it lets you determine which keywords to use at any particular time. Some keywords are cyclical, depending on where you’re located. Pulling up a keyword graph that spans years worth of time in a certain location, such as a country, can help you get ahead of the trends.

Google search insights example image

For example, if you sell snow boots, then you need to know when the Google search trend for snow boots begins. In the United States, the snowy months tend to be November through April (obviously depending on what part of the country you live in.) With this knowledge, you can start adding content to your company’s website and blog starting in October.

However, if you’re trying to attract customers in another part of the world, then the Google search trend might be different. The months of snow in the U.S. constitute peak summer in Australia. As a result, your Google search insights for that country will have very different results.

Taking Advantage of Google Trending Searches

When you click on the standard Google Trends page, you’ll see exactly what’s trending at any given moment. You can break this down by category in order to narrow the trends in order to find something to focus on.

Some of the categories included are sports, entertainment, and so on. You can even change the country to see what’s trending there. If you run a website that focuses on one of these categories, then you can use this Google search insight to come up with a blog post or a piece of web content that focuses on what’s trending right now.

If you’re lucky, you might be able to have your own work appear in one of these Google trending searches. This could potentially bring in thousands of viewers and readers and propel your website to the top of the search engine results.

Making Your Content Count

Before you jump on any Google trends for websites, you first need to make sure that your chosen keyword trends match your content. You can’t see one of these Google search insights and then publish an article on it, not if your website has nothing to do with your trend of choice.

For example, if your online store sells coffee makers, you can’t publish an article about sports – unless you can somehow determine which coffee makers a certain sports team uses in the locker room. It’s all about the honesty of your content. The search engines will punish you for stepping out of bounds.

Although it might be tempting to jump on every trend, you need to make the content fit. Otherwise, all of your efforts will be for nothing.

What Else Matters When It Comes to Content

You need to use the right keywords for search ranking at just the right times. However, getting people to view your website involves a bit more than just planning your content calendar according to seasonal or local trends. It also requires you to put out content that’s high quality.

Every article needs to use those keywords organically in order to prove that you’re an expert in the field. This expertise is what really counts towards your Google SEO results. You need to use a combination of the keywords (the trending ones), as well as a thoughtful article or two that use them. This article should be well-written, as well as fit the context of your website. It’s really a combination of all of these factors that goes in your search engine results.

In order to properly use Google search insights, you need to focus on keywords that fit your content. They also need to be trending keywords. By determining which keywords will trend and when they’ll appear in many user’s searches, you can plan your content accordingly.

Remember that well-written content with these keywords is what will really help your website get to the top of those search engine results. These trends come and go, and depending on your business, your content may or may not fit them. If it doesn’t, don’t force things. The more organic and natural the better, as far as search engines are concerned.

Sameer Panjwani
Sameer Panjwani is the Founder & CEO of Mondovo.com, an online marketing toolset that helps you track your rankings, monitor your site stats, and research your competitors. A man of many talents, Sameer is currently on a mission to help 1 million businesses grow organically through his products and services. Find him on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
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