What is trending? Trending in online marketing is simply using internet tools to gauge how much a certain topic is gaining popularity. Definition: A trending topic is typically a topic which experiences a strong surge in overall popularity on one or a few social networking sites for a period of time. Social media gurus can analyze social trends to determine what is holding consumer attention and then capitalize on this hot topic. If you use Google Trends, for instance, you can see how the interest in the term “fishing” has been steadily increasing over the last year or so.
So how do internet marketers use trending searches to their advantage? The truth is there are many different uses for Google Trends. You can pull up a quick list of the most popular search terms and phrases of the last six months, sorted by country, overall popularity, and topic. For example, if you wanted to target the “make money” niche, you could look at the “make money” Google Trends search and discover that more people were searching for ways to make money than ever before. Now, maybe you aren’t in the “make money” niche (there are literally thousands of niches you can choose from) but maybe you are interested in learning about how to optimize your blog so that you can earn more money online.
Another great thing about searching for “trending topics” online is that you have access to real-time data. When you type in a keyword or phrase into a search engine, the result list typically includes the most popular trends across the board, as well as niche-specific trends within those niches. There are many different sites dedicated to providing users with this information, so you can simply type in whatever topic interests you and see what pops up. Some websites even allow you to cross-reference trending searches with the actual phrases being searched, which can reveal even more valuable information.
In addition to finding popular topics and finding out which topics are most popular, you will also find that most of the best resources for trending searches provide historical data as well. Most of the sites that offer trending searches will allow you to filter by date, meaning that you can see which terms and topics were actually discussed the most in certain time periods. This can help you pinpoint exactly when certain trends began to become popular, allowing you to better understand the ways in which your audience may react to certain events. It can also be helpful in determining whether there are any long-term trends developing.
The best way to find the information you need on trends is to examine the search volume over time. You can also use software tools that allow you to compare search volumes against a given search term or phrase. Sometimes, search terms and phrases will remain relatively flat for several months or years, only for them to suddenly drop in the number of searches over a short period of time. This can indicate a seasonal fluctuation, which you can use to better understand which trends are likely to become popular in the future. If you are looking for general information on trends, you can look at a site such as Yahoo or Google Trends to get a sense of how popular a given search term or phrase is at any given time.
It should be noted that trends are not always caused by users looking for the same thing. Sometimes, a given topic will be trending because of external factors. For instance, if a new celebrity is hitting the scene, that might be related to their video release or news coverage. Even when users are actively searching for trends, some of them do so unintentionally by using search terms or phrases that are irrelevant to their topic. For this reason, it is important to consider all of the ways in which you can determine whether or not a given trend is actually related to the topic or is just a product of the search term itself.