SEOWhat people search for: most popular trends, keywords, topics

What people search for: most popular trends, keywords, topics

People love using search engines, but what do they search for? Here are the best ways to discover the most popular topics, keywords and trending stories.

People love using search engines, but what do they search for? Here are the best ways to discover the most popular topics, keywords and trending stories.

Please note: This is an updated and refreshed version of an article by Lisa Raehsler in 2013.

Google Trends: Allows you to discover the most popular topics on Google’s database, along with the latest trending news worldwide or by regions and subregions.

It also allows you to compare the popularity of multiple terms at a time and the relevant search queries since 2004. Also, Hot Searches help you discover the latest trending searches

Google Trends

Google Autocomplete: Google’s autocomplete feature when conducting a search can be useful if you want a series of personalised suggestions, while it can also give you an idea of the relevant suggestions, or what other people search for similar queries. 

Bing Trends: A report of the most popular trends of the previous year, also providing insights and stats on the popular search queries.

Bing Webmaster Keyword Research Beta: Find what people are searching for with Bing’s data its organic searches.  A comprehensive description of this tool can be found in Bing Keyword Research Tool: Highlights & Limitations.

Bing Ads Marketplace TrendsThis tool makes targeting easier for advertisers, as it analyses ad scheduling trends, device trends, and location trends. Read more about it in Bing Launches Marketplace Trends Site to Help Targeting.

Bing Ads Marketplace Trends

Adwords’ Display Planner (replacing YouTube Keyword Tool): Google has decided to replace Youtube’s keyword tool with Display Planner through Adwords two years ago and many users were left shocked. Now you can search for your Youtube keywords through Display Planner on Adwords, by filtering the results to video keywords on “Get Ad Group Ideas”

Facebook Trending Topics: Facebook’s trending feature presents the most popular topics and hashtags, depending on the users’ likes, the location, and the general popularity of each story.

Twitter Search: Find what people are talking about on Twitter by keyword, hashtag, or user name. What’s more, advanced search offers many features, such as the use of emoticons and the attitude they are associated with.

twitter search

YouTube Trends: Youtube compiles lists of the most popular videos, by examining both the keywords and the video views. Trending videos are measured by the embedded video views, along with the actual views on Youtube, in order to highlight the unique trends that occur on the popular video platform. 

AdWords’ Keyword Planner: Search for keyword ideas, compare how keywords perform, measure the keyword competition and improve your next campaigns.

Keyword Planner

Google’s Year in Search: Google presents the most popular topics of the year and the search queries they inspired and although it is only updated yearly, it may still offer an interesting insight on what people are searching  for.

Übersuggest: Übersuggest promises to help you find new keywords that are not available in Google’s Keyword Planner. Narrow down your search by language, country, or search type, among Web, Images, Shopping, Youtube, and News.

Top Searches, Questions, Topics, Trends

We’ve compiled a list of our past articles with the most popular topics and searches of the past years to give you a better idea of the top keywords, searches, trends for each year:

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

Resources

The 2023 B2B Superpowers Index
whitepaper | Analytics

The 2023 B2B Superpowers Index

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Data Analytics in Marketing
whitepaper | Analytics

Data Analytics in Marketing

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The Third-Party Data Deprecation Playbook
whitepaper | Digital Marketing

The Third-Party Data Deprecation Playbook

2y
Utilizing Email To Stop Fraud-eCommerce Client Fraud Case Study
whitepaper | Digital Marketing

Utilizing Email To Stop Fraud-eCommerce Client Fraud Case Study

2y