The New Google Trends Update: Why News Publishers Should Start Using It
As a News Publisher, one of your main concerns will always be finding the relevant content to write about. In the News Industry, the “right” content is sometimes whatever is trending at the moment and is newsworthy.
It may seem difficult to always be on top of what’s trending and quickly generate content on that topic. But for this, Google offers an excellent tool– Google Trends, which you can use to easily identify trending topics.
Okay, you have identified a trending topic, now how do you do the rest?
We have got you covered: In this article, we’ll discuss the new Google Trends update, how to identify trending topics using Google Trends, and how to use AI to quickly generate content on those topics.
But before we begin, let’s discuss “What is Google Trends?”:
What Is Google Trends and Why Is It Relevant to News Publishers?
Google Trends is actually a really useful tool that a lot of news publishers are starting to tap into these days. Basically, it gives you a window into what people are searching for on Google.
As a news publisher, that kind of data can be super valuable. You can use it to quickly identify emerging news stories that are really capturing people's attention.
And that allows you to jump on those trending topics fast, get content out there, and drive traffic to your site. But, driving traffic is not that simple. Check out our article What Is News SEO? 95% of News Websites Are Doing SEO Wrong– this article should give you insight into why using correct News SEO strategies is essential in driving traffic to your site.
Getting back to Google Trends, it shows you the search volume of specific search terms that readers are using when they're searching for information on Google. So you can use that data to optimize your headlines, your article content, and all the stuff that helps improve your SEO strategy.
Now that it’s clear that Google Trends is a very useful tool for News Publishers, what if i told you that a newer version of Google Trends was just released by Google– and this time they have made it even more valuable for news publishers!
Here’s Why the New Google Trends is a Must Use for News Publishers
With the recent update of Google Trends, Google has added a few very interesting new features.
Let’s break them down:
1. Exact Start Time
Previously all you could see on Google Trends was a graph showing the start date of a trend and the search volume over time. Now with this new update, you can see the exact time a trend started.
But why is the exact start time important?
Well, being early in creating an article for a trend that just started can allow you to "ride the wave". For example, if there is a big earthquake in the US, most people are going to search for it in the first few hours. After which, it will have become old news and you won't get much traffic even if you create an article on it. So being on time is essential.
In short, the start time can help you determine if it's the right time to write on the topic or not.
For example, in the screenshot below, we can see a trend that started "50 minutes ago". When you see an opportunity like this, you can quickly create an article about it and post it on your site to "ride the trend wave."
2. Trend Breakdown
Another great addition to the new Google Trends, is the trend breakdown menu, where you can see a complete breakdown of any trend.
In the breakdown menu, you can see the related keywords and how the story is being discussed in the news. You can click on each related keyword to see how each specific keyword is performing, this will help you determine which keyword to use in your headline and inside the article as well.
And, you can take inspiration from the “In the News” section to create your own news article about the topic.
3. Customizable Filters
The filters on the newer version of Google Trends are much more customizable. You can look for trends in the past 4 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, or 7 days. You can also filter out inactive trends to only show the Active ones (which you will be focusing on).
Now that we know what’s good about the new Google Trends, let’s explore a use case for you to reap the benefits of this new update:
Combining Google Trends with AI
If you have come this far, you have learned how Google Trends can help you find the right topic.
What Now?
Now that you know how to find a trending topic, below is a use case that can help you speed up the process of identifying a topic and then publishing an article on that topic while the trend is still hot.
Step 1: Identify a topic.
Look for a potential trend on Google Trends. For example, in the screenshot below, you can see that Apple is an active trend that started 14 hours ago and has a high search volume.
Step 2: Use AI to generate Ideas for an article.
You can use a prompt like in the screenshot below to ask an AI tool like ChatGPT to search online and then provide ideas for articles that you could write about this.
Step 3: Review the ChatGPTs response and choose the best Idea to write your article on.
Once ChatGPT provides a response, you can choose keywords from the headlines of the articles and use Google Trends to determine which of these would be the best topic to write on.
From the screenshot above, let’s choose keywords from the first three article ideas.
- Apple AI
- Iphone 16
- Apple Watch
Comparing Keywords
Go to the Explore tab on Google Trends and enter all three keywords to start comparing them.
From the graph above, it is evident that the best topic to write about from the “apple” trend is the Iphone 16 since it has the highest interest.
Step 4: Use the Trend Breakdown menu to determine what keywords to use in your article.
From the trend breakdown menu, choose all keywords that are relevant to your article and use them tastefully in your article.
And that’s it! Once you refine your skill with this approach, you’ll be able to create articles on any trending topic and publish it on your news site right away!
Conclusion
To summarize, the new Google Trends update offers News Publishers a powerful set of features to stay ahead of the competition by quickly identifying trending topics– and by combining the information you find of Google Trends with AI, you'll streamline the content creation process. So you can ensure that your articles are timely and relevant.
byGerard Kijlstra
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