Understanding keyword trends is key for organic and paid search performance.
Search terms rise and fall in popularity. Understanding the movements aids informed decisions, such as naming products, launching marketing campaigns, and developing content.
Here are four tools to identify year-over-year keyword trends.
SEOmonitor
SEOmonitor is a rank tracking platform that pulls search volume from Google Ad’s Keyword Planner.
The YoY search trends (expressed as a positive or negative percentage) compare the keyword volumes from the last month to the same month of the previous year. If the volume exceeds +200%, the trend appears as a multiplier.
Pricing starts at €99 ($107) per month with a free trial.
SEOmonitor compares last month’s keyword volumes to those of the same month in the previous year. Click image to enlarge.
Semrush
Semrush, a multi-feature search platform, provides comprehensive keyword volume info, including keyword magic (for discovery), competitive analysis, and rank tracking.
Semrush says it relies on multiple sources for its search volume reports — Keyword Planner and “clickstream data acquired from reliable sources.” It’s the only tool on this list with a proprietary metric beyond Google-supplied metrics.
Semrush retains historical search volume data for many years, handy for analyzing long-term keyword trends. I’ve pulled high-volume keyword stats as far back as 2012, for example.
Pricing for Semrush starts at $140 per month with a free trial.
Semrush retains historical search volume data for years, such as this example for “ecommerce” in 2012. Click image to enlarge.
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking is a rank-tracking platform that reports the average search volume for any query based on Keyword Planner.
In the ranking tracking chart, the percentage displayed alongside Search Volume shows the YoY movements — queries from the latest full month compared to the same month last year.
Prices for Advanced Web Ranking start at $99 per month with a free trial.
Advanced Web Ranking reports average YoY search volume based on Google’s Keyword Planner for any query. Click image to enlarge.
Glimpse (+Google Trends)
Glimpse offers a Chrome extension that enhances Google Trends reports with search volume info and movements in the past month, quarter, and year.
Glimpse’s Chrome extension enhances Google Trends reports with monthly, quarterly, and annual search volume, such as this example for “ecommerce.” Click image to enlarge.
The tool also provides keyword seasonality analysis, such as this assessment for “ecommerce”:
Interest in “ecommerce” remains fairly stable throughout the year, with slight increases around mid-summer in July, suggesting a potential increase in online shopping activities or preparations for upcoming sales events. However, the trend demonstrates minor declines as the year progresses towards the holiday season, particularly in October, November, and December, possibly due to increasing consumer focus on traditional retail or other seasonal activities during the holiday period.
Google Trends reports only popular keywords, not niche or long-tail queries. Thus Glimpse is helpful mostly for generic competitive terms.
Glimpse’s Chrome extension is free for 10 monthly searches. Paid plans with unlimited searches start at $49 per month.