How to get great story ideas from Google Trends

Google offers  anyone direct insight into what other people are searching.

This is both more — and less — creepy than it sounds.

Now, we as the public can’t see who specifically is searching for something. We can’t connect it to IP addresses or individuals. This is good.

But with Google Trends we can see what groups of people are wondering around any given topic. This includes which words they use and what questions they have, vital bits of data that will help you better understand your audience — and how to create content that speaks to them.

Here are a few tips and tricks for tapping into the power of Google Trends to fuel your writing.

How do I use Google Trends?

Google Trends is a free utility that shows what people are searching for. It’s easy to geolocate and narrow down search trends to various countries or even states.