Keeping tabs on keyword trends enables you to identify and jump on SEO opportunities before your competitors.
For example, say you’re a tourism company, and the trends show that searches for “holiday in Jamaica” increased during the summer. With this information, you can create pillar content and topic clusters targeting the key phrase and related queries. Or you could refresh related content to boost your visibility in the SERPs.
Staying up-to-date on keyword trends can be tricky because the data changes constantly. To help you keep up, we’ve put together ten simple ways to spot topic trends early and within a reasonable budget too.
As the name implies, keyword tracking enables you to keep tabs on search queries and even discover new keyword suggestions that you can target for better search visibility and traffic.
You can set up keyword tracking with keyword.com in only a few steps:
Step 1: Log into your keyword.com dashboard. Enter your URL, then list the keywords you’ll like to track.
Step 2: Set the data parameters for granular keyword tracking. You can specify the location, device (whether mobile or desktop), and other information. Next, click “Add keywords.”
Step 3: Here, you will see your SERP performance for those keywords over time and uncover trends or patterns. Keyword.com also shows you its current SERP ranking, competition, and search volume for these queries.
Using a tool like Keyword.com to track keyword trends helps you to identify:
Tip: Set up automated reports to receive keyword insights directly in your inbox daily, weekly, or monthly.
Beyond SEO tools, there are other ways to know the keywords your competitors prioritize.
You can use Google Trends to:
Tip: If Google Trends shows a seasonal spike in searches for your product, plan your campaigns and content accordingly to capitalize on this interest.
Social media platforms are a great place to monitor keyword trends and discover new keywords.
Here’s how to use them effectively:
Tip: Participate and share on social media platforms and communities in your industry to remain relevant and stay ahead of emerging trends.
Reading the top niche blogs is a great way to uncover the latest developments in your industry — and corresponding topics and keyword trends. Say top niche blogs start writing about a specific subject matter; that’s a sign that the topic is relevant and worth exploring.
For example, If Egyptian travel blogger and founder of Curls en Route, Nadine Arab, shares a destination recommendation, many people will follow.
To leverage blogs for keyword trends, start by tracking recurring themes across multiple blogs to identify patterns related to emerging topics. It’s important to pay attention to keywords used in blog headlines or subheadings, as these are often optimized for SEO and can indicate authoritative sources. You can also review comments to get insights into audience questions or concerns, which can inspire long-tail keyword ideas.
Tip: Use tools like Feedly or Flipboard to aggregate content from multiple blogs in one place.
Google Alerts is a free tool that allows you to monitor the web for mentions of your brand, products, or industry-related keywords. You can set up alerts for specific keywords and receive notifications whenever they’re mentioned on the web. This is a great way to stay up to date with the latest trends and news in your industry.
To make the most of Google Alerts:
Tip: Set an alert for your brand name to be notified whenever you’re mentioned online.
Analyzing your competitors’ keywords gives you insight into where their focus lies and also what their strengths and weaknesses are.
Use tools like Seobility and Ahrefs to analyze your competitors’ SEO performance and identify keywords they’re ranking for that you can potentially target.
You’ll also see which of their keywords are dropping or gaining rankings in the SERPs — which exposes topic trends you could take advantage of.
Tip: Use our “How to Track Your Competitors’ Keywords” guide to get started.
Sites like Reddit and Quora are excellent resources for finding out what people are talking about in your industry in real-time.
Say you’re an eCommerce store selling handmade bags; join subreddits for handmade fashion aficionados. Here, you’ll discover questions, comments, and ideas that could serve as untapped keyword opportunities for your business.
A subreddit like r/ethicalfashion could be a great starting point.
You can start with tracking common questions by searching threads for repeated queries in your industry and looking for long-tail keywords that come from the conversational language found in forums. Pay attention to threads with many upvotes on platforms like Reddit, as they indicate popular topics and potential keywords.
Tip: Use Reddit’s Keyword Monitor Pro to automatically track mentions of specific terms.
Web analytics tools like Google Analytics can provide insights into how people are finding and using your website. You can use this data to identify which keywords are driving traffic to your site, which pages are most popular, and which keywords people are using to find your content.
Google Search Console is another must-have tool for understanding organic traffic and determining which content to optimize for SEO.
Tip: Combine web analytics with heatmaps to see how users interact with pages targeting specific keywords.
Customer feedback is an untapped goldmine of keyword opportunities. Talk to your customers, read their reviews, and analyze their search behavior to get insights into the keywords they’re using to find your products or services.
Some excellent ways to find high-quality customer information are through:
Tip: Leverage this information to create helpful and informative content for your potential customers.
YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world. This makes it a fantastic resource for finding trending keywords in your industry. By looking at popular video titles, tags, and descriptions, you can see what your audience is interested in right now.
Using a tool like TubeBuddy can help you to:
Tip: If you’re a female fitness content creator and see women searching for “at-home workouts,” you can create related content targeting that keyword.
MadFit is a Canadian at-home workout creator who achieved global success with her YouTube videos, social media content, blog, and app.
The rise of voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant is changing the way people search online. Voice searches tend to be longer and more conversational.
To find common voice search queries, use tools like AnswerThePublic to discover questions people are asking, especially those starting with “who,” “what,” “how,” and “where.”
To attract voice search traffic, focus on natural language and long-tail keywords.
Tip: Instead of trying to rank for “best Italian restaurants,” aim for “Where can I find the best Italian restaurants near me?”
Surveys and polls are great tools for understanding your audience’s interests and spotting new keyword trends.
Use platforms like SurveyMonkey, Typeform, or social media polls to gather insights on:
Tip: A survey might show that your audience is looking for “eco-friendly skincare products,” helping you discover a new content avenue.
