What’s trending? Let’s Google it.

Google owns over 92% of the global search engine market (72% Desktop and 92% Mobile Search engine market), while Bing owns 2.9% and Yahoo owns 1.1%. Obviously, because who doesn’t “Google it” or ask “Isn’t it on Google?” or think “Thank God for Google!”

Google continues to be the most important search engine for people, and a significant influencer and driver of how people look for things online, find them, and seek out information from The Internet. It is estimated that Google processes approximately 99,000 search requests according to this article on Hubspot.

That could translate into 8.5 billion searches per day, and perhaps 2 trillion global searches a year! How is this calculated? It is estimated that an average person conducts at least 3 to 4 searches each day. In fact, I have conducted 18 searches in one day to finalize a travel plan, and many others conduct double-digit searches even at work to either find research materials, or data or to shop. So, the figures indicated here could be much higher!

Why is Google such a darling search engine?

For one, it learns from you about your tastes and preferences, what time you are more likely to search for a particular item or subject, and that level of personalization is hard to pass. For users who want to find something, a smart search engine like Google uses “anonymously stored browser cookies to get a sense of search histories and preferences” even if the users haven’t logged into a Gmail or a Google account. Then of course, we have Chrome browser history that gives Google all the necessary data to create a profile of the user, based on age, gender, language, location, etc.

While search volumes fluctuate daily, reacting to world events, news coverage, or unexpected catastrophes, it is worth knowing what searches are trending if you’re a marketer or an influencer. Even watching the way trends change overnight or continue to grow rapidly over a short period of time, is interesting learning in the digital age.

Top 5 tools to track trends

Many young marketing and communications professionals may use standalone keywords in the Google search bar to come up with a sense of what is trending. However, one can search in a more targeted way to gain deeper and more valuable insights by using these tools:

1.???? With Google Trends, you can search by year, view peaks and values of the topic of interest and see what is trending now. You can observe seasonality, and plan your calendar according to it. You can find related topics, queries, and sub-regions of your topic, and thus create better-targeted campaigns. Not many marketers are using Google Trends for planning or launching their campaigns, but they should.

2.???? With Think It With Google, markets can really dig deeper to understand several aspects of marketing with articles, benchmark reports, consumer insights, and relevant marketing content – straight from the horse’s mouth – related to leveraging Google search for business. It is a creative space and will get better with every use as it learns more about you.

3.???? Twitter or X (confused with the branding symbolism and identity, sorry) can be another resource to find out what is trending aside from the hostile political spats and debates, and the trolling. On the homepage (talking desktop here), if you click on EXPLORE, you will find the Trending tab where you can see immediately, what is trending with hashtags. There is also a News, Sports and Entertainment tab which shows what is trending in those areas. Very useful for B2C marketers if they want to ride the relevance wagon.

4.???? BuzzSumo is a gem with hidden potential and takes the users deeper and higher, to a whole new level! You can go about researching topics that matter to your industry, analyze data, check out competitors and influencers, and access over 8 billion articles worldwide. If you are a marketer, you would find this tool very convenient when generating content ideas and briefs at the click of a button, tapping into viral stories, revamping classics, and staying inspired by engaging topics and real-time trends. Try it!

5.???? Feedly is an RDD feed aggregator that allows users to follow their favorite brands, and see their most recent content in one place. Ideal for business users and individuals, and a must-have for marketers, influencers, and content creators that are dealing with multiple competitors in a crowded marketplace who have a large social and digital presence. You can check out trending topics, by industry and skills, and you can set up keyword alerts to continue tracking the latest trends.

Apart from these top 5 that are ruling the roost, we have Reddit, Ahrefs, Pocket and Quora that are popular. There is no limit to using several search tools that help discover trends - as far as your time and curiosity will allow. Every marketer and influencer would acknowledge that actionable trend data from a relevant source is worth its weight in gold.

What’s the verdict on “Aren’t we adding Google”?

Google provides many interconnected services that can empower a brand. It can change brand perceptions and alter a brand’s trajectory overnight in the market. If you want to expand your brand’s impact with your target audience, you can’t skip Google in your GTM strategy. Using Google’s various offerings as far as possible to boost visibility, gain consumer loyalty, bring in new clients, track behavior, and improve customer conversions is the smartest and easiest thing to do for a digital marketer. After all, Google has data that is verified and recontextualized every single day, and it owns the largest piece of both search and browser market shares. (And here, you have been, naively, still trying to "protect" your personal information online?)

Sales no longer happen by accident, nor by the efforts of a sales team alone. Customers must be courted and converted in real-time, online, every day, by the marketing team in a studied way. It is like the preparations that happen before a grand wedding; not all the efforts may be visible. But the outcome will always be “Google worthy”.

Sources: Hubspot, Google, BuzzSumo, Feedly, Twitter

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