Google Trends is an invaluable tool for anyone involved in keyword research, content creation, or digital marketing. Understanding how to effectively compare terms within Google Trends is crucial for unlocking its full potential, especially given its unique approach to reporting data as relative interest rather than absolute search volume. This guide will walk you through leveraging the “compare” feature in Google Trends to gain deeper insights into keyword performance, identify trends, and overcome some of the platform’s inherent limitations.
Understanding the Basics: Comparing 2-5 Terms in Google Trends
Google Trends’ core functionality allows you to directly compare the search interest of up to five different terms simultaneously. Let’s illustrate this by comparing the interest in “TikTok” and “Reddit,” two popular online platforms.
To begin, simply enter your initial keyword, in this case, “TikTok,” into the Google Trends search bar.
Next, click the “+ Compare” button. This will open a new search bar where you can add your second term, “Reddit.”
Google Trends will then display a graph where each term is represented by a distinct color-coded line, making it visually straightforward to compare their relative search interest over time. As the example shows, while Reddit lagged behind TikTok for a period, it has recently surpassed TikTok in search interest.
Decoding Relative Search Interest
It’s vital to understand that Google Trends uses relative search interest, not absolute search volume. This means the data presented reflects interest relative to the peak popularity of the compared terms within the selected timeframe. The highest point of interest among all terms being compared is set to a value of 100, and all other data points are scaled proportionally to this peak.
In our TikTok vs. Reddit comparison, Reddit’s peak interest point defines the value of 100. All other data points for both TikTok and Reddit are then calculated as a percentage of this peak. This relative scaling is excellent for visual comparisons of a few terms, but it’s important to recognize its limitations when you require precise, absolute search volume data.
For access to absolute search volumes and more granular insights, tools like Glimpse, a Chrome extension designed to enhance Google Trends, can be incredibly beneficial. Glimpse provides absolute search volume figures and additional features like seasonality analysis and search volume forecasting.
Going Beyond Limits: Comparing More Than 5 Terms
While Google Trends natively restricts comparisons to a maximum of five terms, you can utilize Glimpse to circumvent this limitation and analyze a larger set of keywords. Let’s demonstrate how to compare the absolute search volumes for a broader range of social media platforms: TikTok, Reddit, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram.
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Begin by installing the Glimpse Chrome extension.
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Using Glimpse, search for each term individually and download the data as a CSV file.
- To export data to Google Sheets, click “Open in Google Sheets” located at the top right of the “Monthly Search Volume Over Time” section within Glimpse.
- For Excel users, download the CSV by clicking the three vertical dots next to the Glimpse logo and selecting the “download” icon.
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Create a new blank spreadsheet (CSV format) and set up headers. The first header should be “Time,” followed by headers for each keyword you are comparing (e.g., “TikTok,” “Reddit,” “LinkedIn,” etc.).
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Copy and paste the data from each downloaded CSV file into your master spreadsheet.
- Open each individual keyword CSV. Copy the date range from the “Time (week of)” column and paste it under the “Time” header in your new sheet.
- Ensure you only do this once, and verify that the dates are consistent across all individual sheets. This should be the case if you downloaded all sheets with the same date parameters.
- Next, copy the “Search Volume (Absolute)” data from each keyword CSV and paste it under the corresponding keyword header in your master sheet.
- Repeat this process for all keywords until you have compiled the absolute search volumes for all your chosen terms across the same date range in one spreadsheet.
- Open each individual keyword CSV. Copy the date range from the “Time (week of)” column and paste it under the “Time” header in your new sheet.
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Finally, select all the data in your spreadsheet, including the headers, and create a chart by clicking “Insert” > “Chart.” You can customize the chart’s appearance and data presentation by double-clicking on the graph to access the chart editor.
By following these steps, you’ve successfully created a graph comparing the absolute search volumes of more than five terms, effectively overcoming Google Trends’ built-in limitation. This method can be applied to any set of keywords for in-depth comparative analysis.
Unveiling Regional Insights: Comparing Terms by Location
Beyond analyzing search interest over time, Google Trends also allows you to compare keyword interest across different geographic regions.
After inputting two or more terms, the “Region” section displays a map and a list of top regions. These regions are ranked based on the percentage of the combined search volume attributed to your primary term. For a clearer illustration, let’s compare “sunscreen” and “coat.”
In this example, Indonesia shows the highest ranking, indicating that searches for “sunscreen” constitute a larger portion of the combined search volume for “sunscreen” and “coat” in this region. Conversely, Egypt demonstrates a greater interest in “coats.” You can hover over the blue and red bars in the regional breakdown to view the precise percentages for each term.
The map visualization further emphasizes that interest in coats dominates across most regions, with Indonesia and a few other Asian countries showing a stronger preference for sunscreen.
This regional data provides valuable insights into global or localized preferences for different topics. You can leverage Google Trends’ regional insights to enhance your keyword research strategies and refine your product research efforts by understanding where specific keywords and products resonate most strongly.
By mastering the comparison features within Google Trends, and utilizing tools like Glimpse to extend its capabilities, you can unlock a wealth of data-driven insights to inform your content strategy, marketing campaigns, and product development decisions.
