Google is a powerful tool. It holds over 91% of the world’s search engine market share. With such a vast global reach, the Caribbean is no exception, where it maintains over 90% of the market share. From pop culture to commerce, over 3.5 billion queries are logged every single day. Google has an unfathomable data pool to pull from which you are free to access.
The Google Trends homepage is straightforward. You will find the most popular queries from around the world in a simple top 10 list. Don’t let this fool you, though, knowing how to utilize the features of Google Trends can help you tap into today’s zeitgeist with the click of a button.
Seasonal Variations
If you search by term, you will can choose a period to analyze. Search data is displayed visually and allows you to make business decisions base on your findings. If you want to get an idea of seasonal variation, review the data over past five years. Data analysis is a great way to gauge the market and target the best times to push your product. If you’re considering adding a new product to your range, do a quick search to pick out the fads from the consistent sellers
A great example is Fidget Spinners. They sold well in their heyday, but if you take a look at the graph, it’s considered a fad. Cookware, on the other hand, is a consistently popular product. If you examine the chart, you’ll see there’s also a spike in popularity just before the end of the year. Now that you’ve pinpointed it’s a Christmas seller, and you can adapt your marketing accordingly.
Regional Awareness
When expanding into a new market, it’s essential to get a feel of the local audience. On Google Trends, you can select the country you’d like to analyze, and it’ll show you the sub-regions and their rankings. Understanding the words used is a great way to gauge the popularity of your product, as well as the best penetration points to target.
For example, when you look up ‘coffee’ in Trinidad and Tobago, you’ll see these sub-regions. Here we can see that the drink is substantially more popular on the western coast. If you’re considering expanding your café chain to the Trinidadian market, this is a good indication of where you’ll find the most success.
Monitoring Competitors
When using the compare option, you can enter two search terms and see which is more popular. It’s also very useful in monitoring your competitors. If you’re aware of a recent promotion or advertising campaign, you can use this feature to track their progress. Has a new competitor dampened saturated the market? The graph above is a five-year comparison between Massy Stores and Price Smart in Barbados
Branching Out
Another interesting feature of Google Trends is the ability to link compatible topics. Looking up a term allows you to see topics that are closely related. You can identify potential avenues to branch out in terms of products or promotional content. For example, if you sell hiking equipment, looking up the term ‘camping’ leads you to topics like ‘summer camps’ or ‘recreational vehicles’.
Using this information can lead to new sales or create content that will lead potential customers to your website. In this example, creating blogs ranking recreational vehicles or promoting local summer camps can help boost your search engine optimization.
Google Trends is a tool every modern marketing professional can benefit from utilizing. Learning how to use Google Trends will revolutionize the way you approach marketing.
Would you like insight into content, data, and advertising delivered to your inbox? Subscribe Now to ACM Weekly