How to Use Google Trends to Write a Hub

One of the greatest tools a Hubpages writer has in their arsenal is Google Trends. This is an application from Google that not many people know about - but it is perhaps one of the greatest ways to spark inspiration for a Hub and to gain traffic.

I'm relatively new to this whole Hubpages thing, but I've been doing my research. As a matter of fact, the research for this hub probably just made my research for the rest of my hubs much easier!

Basically, Google Trends is an application that allows people to see what is recently being "most-searched" on Google.

One of the coolest features offered by Google Trends is a Hot Searches list that shows what people around the world are searching for on Google. This feature takes a close look at search words and phrases that are experiencing a sudden increase in popularity by analyzing the thousands upon thousands of web searches performed daily and focuses on searches that are vastly different from their normal traffic, and it compiles a list of the 40 most-searched queries. Hot Searches updates hourly, so you can trust it to be up-to-date!

Many of the Hot Searches are words that relate to the ever-changing world of pop culture. Celebrities who have been featured in the news recently are often moving up and down the Hot Searches list. For example, after the death of Steve Jobs, searches regarding both Steve and his company, Apple, shot through the roof. The search volume line for Steve Jobs was almost entirely flat, save for a small bump when his pancreatic cancer was revealed and he took a medical leave from Apple, up until his death, when search volume increased by well over 100%.

For the Hot Searches, as well, Google Trends provides a chart to show the topics hourly search volume.

My favorite part about Google Trends is that you can search your own keyword and see its search history. Google Trends shows search volume and how it has changed over time, key search phrases, and regions and languages where it is being searched most. This way you can track who what talking about what, and when.

You can even compare up to five keywords or phrases at one time!

Similar to Google Trends is Yahoo! Buzz Index. This is an application that operates in the same manner as Google Trends, in that it collects data about the words being most searched on the Yahoo! Search engine.

Keywords or phrases are given a buzz score, which is calculated based on the percentage of searches for that word or phrase in one day. The Yahoo! Buzz Index incorporates both the most-searched terms (words and phrases like 'Facebook" and "Walmart," as well as the terms that have the most change.

Basically, Google has gifted us with a form of market research - for free. Companies pay through the nose to figure out what consumers are thinking and searching in order to find the next thing to sell. It's time to start thinking like a company and figuring out what people want to read.

Google Trends is your secret weapon. By using Google Trends, you can find out what people are searching for right now. This means you can see what sort of a Hub you need to write to gather higher traffic. Also, finding a pattern in data for search volume can give you some idea of when a particular item, topic, person, or even is on the public's mind. For example, the word "gift" always gains search volume in the weeks before the Christmas holidays, just as "costume" makes a surge before Halloween.

Google Trends can also be used when researching a topic that you are writing a hub. Think about it. Google Trends allows you to see changes in search volume for certain topics. For example, Lady Gaga. Google Trends shows us where searches for Lady Gaga increased - for evens such as her VMA wins, the release of new singles or music videos, and antics such as "hatching" from an egg. You can see patterns of interest in Lady Gaga as a search item, and it helps to track her fame on the online world. You can actually use Google Trends to build a time-line.

Perhaps the one downfall to using Google Trends is that it does not often result in a topic that will make your Hubs "evergreen." An evergreen Hub is one with a topic that won't disappear anytime soon. Hubs about something like "How to Check Your Oil" and "How to Grow a Rose Garden" will still be searched for months to come, at any time of the year. A Hub on the topic of something in pop culture, like the winner of Dancing with the Stars or a celebrity scandal would not be considered evergreen, because it has a very short shelflife on Hubpages.

Despite this, Google Trends is still a great way to research and find out what people want to read about. Use this tool to your advantage, and write about what people really want to read about!