7 Google tools to use when conducting current keyword research

Consumer behavior changes rapidly and unpredictably during the coronavirus pandemic.

Therefore, keyword research is now more important than ever to understand the latest shifts in consumer intent.

While 100% of SEO professionals who are worth their salt understand how they can dig insights from Google Search Console and know what keyword tools have helped them in the past to increase traffic, ranking and visibility in search results, this is the time to think outside search box.

Even one new insight every fortnight can help your business as customers create more relevant content as they navigate the ‘new normal’.

That means taking advantage of resources that did not exist before March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of coronavirus a pandemic, or used additional tools to monitor your assumptions.

Here are some places I now visit almost every weekday and some tools I have reached in the toolbox that I rarely used before I had to start dealing with strange things going on at night.

1. Rising Retail Categories

In May 2020, Think with Google launched an interactive tool called Rising Retail Categories to help us understand:

• Fast-moving retail categories in Google Search.
• The locations where they grow.
• The questions associated with them.

For example, the top trend categories in the US include year-over-year:

• Sprinkler controls.
• Sneeze guards.
• Disinfectants for households.
• Neck gaiters.
• Protective masks.

Or, focus on the top trend categories month-on-month to discover:

• Food for food containers (+ 100%).
• The scrub (+ 100%).
• Medical devices (+ 90%).
• Pen and pencil cases (+ 70%).
• Outerwear for baby and toddler (+ 60%).

Then tap the top trend categories week by week and explore:

• Blank ID cards (+ 40%).
• Pie and pastry fillings (+ 30%).
• Play Mats & Gyms (+ 30%).
• Foosball tables (+ 30%).
• Neck Gaiters (+ 30%).
• Lime boards (+ 30%).

If your company or customers make one of these products, this is your chance to spot a major trend and become a hero.

2. Trends for Coronavirus Search

In March 2020, Google launched Coronavirus Search Trends.

There was an increase in search interest in the subject, coronavirus, from late February to early May.

Since then, search interest in coronavirus has been under the topic, weather, and is now roughly equal to search interest in the topic, news, but still remains above the topics of sports and music.

3. The U.S. Economy & COVID-19

Google has recently added a new section of its Coronavirus search trends targeting The US Economy and COVID-19.

How has the Corandavirus pandemic affected searches in the economy?

How do they compare now to searches in the past?

Scroll down the page to see search interest for the term, recession, since 2004.

And keep scrolling down to find the spikes in seeking interest in other terms, such as unemployment benefits, food bank, food stamps, and mortgage lending.

Or look at the map of the country to see where interest is sought in terms such as debt, bankruptcy and “can not pay rent”.

4. Insights on shopping

Google launched Shopping Insights in October 2015, but I rarely used the tool before the COVID-19 recession despite the fact that it enables you to see how your business or clients stack up against your competitors, and it lets you Competitive products follow in your category.

In these “extraordinarily uncertain” times, it is a lifesaver.

Well, it’s painfully obvious that disruptions this year will make it difficult for retailers to plan for the holidays.

But, Shopping Insights helps them stay informed about what customers want and follow trends in their category.

How can Google provide this insight into shopping?

According to Think with Google, shoppers in 63% of shopping scenarios go online to research before making a purchase decision, whether they are shopping online or in a store.

With daily search data for 55,000+ products, 45,000+ brands, and nearly 5,000 categories across the U.S., Shopping Insights helps you better understand customers’ shopping intentions online, and make more informed merchandising and marketing decisions through online and offline channels.

For example, the top brands in the Toys & Games category, based on data from July 17 to August 16, 2020, are:

• LEGO.
• Hasbro.
• Mattel.
• Funko.
• Hot wheels.

So, if you’ve planning for Saturday Small Business or the entire holiday season, you know what brands you need to deliver on the shelves.

5. Market Finder

Google launched Market Finder in November 2017, but I have rarely used the tool in the past.

But it has now become a game-changer in helping clients navigate the ‘new normal’.

For example, I work with the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR) to generate applications for their Online Professional Masters in Human Resource Management program.

By entering the URL of SMLR in Market Finder, I was able to calculate which regions offer the best opportunities for growth, based on key metrics for my chosen categories.

Within the United States, they are California, Texas and Florida.

For Rutgers, which is the State University of New Jersey, this came as a big surprise because it represents a major shift in geographic trends for the pandemic.

6. Google Surveys

Google Consumer Surveys was launched in March 2012. It was renamed to Google Surveys in October 2016.

It has become one of the essential tools in my toolkit to gain valuable insight into the minds of my clients ’audiences.

If you have not already used it, Google Surveys is a market research tool that collects data from survey questions you write.

Web users answer your survey questions to access high quality content on the Google Display Network.

In turn, content publishers get paid when their users answer your questions. Google then aggregates and analyzes the answers via a simple online interface.

Yes, I also use Search Console and keyword tools. But those tell me “what” people are looking for.

They do not tell me “why” people ask these questions.

That’s why I’ve used Google Surveys multiple times to “look around corners or above walls,” as periscope toys often say.

Only Google Surveys helps me discover search results, which is much more valuable.

I have often used screening questions to ensure that the respondents on a particular survey represent the niche audience that my client is targeting, instead of anyone and everyone who used a search query.

And Google Surveys has enabled me to get answers within days instead of weeks with more traditional research methods.

Oh, and did I mention it was cheap?

No, it’s not free, but prices start from $ 0.10 per completed survey, although I typically pay around $ 1.50 per completed survey, because I use surveys with 2 to 10 questions aimed at respondents of specific age, gender or location.

For example, keyword research will generally help me to select a keyword phrase to optimize the title and header of a landing page.

But, Google Surveys will help me to make sure that the content on that landing page actually addresses the consumer intent behind the demand.

Why is that valuable?

Because you can do more than generate organic search traffic.

SEOs can generate organic search traffic that converts into qualified leads like online sales.

7. Google Trends

Google Trends was launched in May 2005, making it the oldest tool on this list.

And many SEO professionals do not use it often because it does not provide data on organic search volumes.

But these are not normal times.

And finding insights that can be processed within minutes of an event happening in the real world can give SEOs a seat at the table where strategic decisions are made.

For example, I just taught a course to the New Media Academy (NMA) on “Creating a Digital Marketing Strategy” to a group of more than 100 business professionals in the United Arab Emirates.

And one of the recent articles I shared with my NMA class was straight, How people decide what to buy lies in the ‘sloppy middle’ of the purchase price.

It was written by Alistair Rennie and Jonny Protheroe, who both work on Google’s Consumer Insights team, and was published last month in Think with Google.

Rennie and Protheroe are using Google Trends to look for “best” vs. worldwide search from January 1, 2004 through July 1, 2020. “cheap”.

Well, I do not know about you, but I have never made this particular comparison before.

And I was surprised to see that interest in searching for ‘best’ worldwide has steadily increased over the past 16-and-a-half years, while worldwide search for “cheap” has gradually declined over the same period.

Oh, and the great recession of 2007-2009 did not affect these trends at all.

Well, that’s worth taking in the next Zoom meeting of your entire marketing team.

If your company or customers are dealing with these “extraordinarily uncertain” times, this is not the time to create new content and optimize for “cheap.”

Instead of creating new content, you need to create and optimize for “the best”.

But why?

Because that’s what your customers are looking for.

And, even though we are facing an unusual crisis, it is worth remembering that a crisis represents both a threat and an opportunity for your business and customers.

This means that this unusual crisis also represents a threat and an opportunity for you.

Therefore, this is not the time to continue using the same old tools you learned to use five, 10, or 15 years ago.

It’s time to explore some of the alternatives mentioned above.

Who knows, they may be able to help your company or customers jump back faster from the COVID-19 recession, or they may even help you jump to your next promotion in a much shorter time.

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