How to identify keyword trends?

Have you ever wanted to know what the most searched keywords on the Internet are? I am not talking about past records of most searched keywords which are out of date, but about the source of almost real time most searched results supported by graphs of previous performances. This can be valuable source of information when determining potential next niche markets, creating online competitive advantages and boosting websites traffic. On top of that the service is provided for free without any single cent paid.

Let's talk about Google Trends
Google trends is kind of “search engine” developed by Google Labs, but its primer goal is not to search for websites based on chosen keywords, but instead of that it shows how popular particular keywords are. The results are displayed in easy to follow graphs which show not just past keywords performance, but most recent performance as well. You can compare up to 5 keywords at the same time. Google Trends also shows you how often were keywords displayed in Google News.

If you have no idea what keywords could be future hot trends, don’t worry. Just rely on Google HotTrends. This Google Trends sub-domain website provides great information in the field of recent most wanted keywords. You will be able to access a list of 100 most searched key phrases (updated hourly) with lists of related searches as well.

How to use Google Trends?
It is really simple, just like in regular search engines write down your keywords, separate them by commas and click enter keyboard. Subsequently you will be taken to the result page which consists of 2 main parts. First one is graphs part. Graph part consists of Search Volume index. This index shows how many times have been your keywords searched in comparison to all Google searches which were done over time.

Under this graph is located News reference volume graph. This graph shows how often your key phrases have appeared in Google News.

The second part of result page is focused on the number of clicks line up according to geographic regions, cities and languages. So you can easily find out which regions and cities are most interested in hot keywords.

All this information can be used when you deciding which keywords will be most appropriate for your articles, or when determining what could be the next hot products to sell online. If you choose correct keywords you should be able to increase your traffic and sales.

But remember…
… Google Trends itself is not a magic sphere which can predict the future. This product has been developed by Google Labs what means it is still in developing stage, therefore the results can be inaccurate for a number of reasons. So information gathered from this source should not be used as solely source of inputs for your work, it should be more like supplementary source.
But despite this drawback, there is no doubt Google Trends is an interesting project which importance will probably rise with the rise of its accuracy.