Using Google trends is a great tool to see how certain keywords will do for your blog. If you don’t know what Google trends are, they are part of Google Labs and allow you to see the search volume for certain keywords.

This brings keyword research to a whole new level allowing you to effectively estimate Google search traffic easily and quickly.

Using the tool

To use the trends tool simply type in a term to the box (as seen below) to see the traffic trends for that term (example: cow). You can also compare multiple terms by putting a comma between them (example: cow, dog, sheep).

Source

You then get a graphical output of the trends (seen above) along with some really great data below. It tells you the languages, cities and regions that the terms are searched for from. This can help you tailor your niche to the correct area. For example if you write an English speaking blog but your term is only searched for by people that don’t speak English, it probably isn’t worth it trying to rank for it.

It is like a matching game when you are selecting terms. You have to find a term that fits your traffic, location and language requirements. Once you find your terms you can go rank for them and watch the traffic come in

A few tips

One tip is to use a reference point. Find a term you already rank for and see how many that’s brings you in per day traffic wise. You can then compare it with your new term and see in relation where that ranks to estimate raw traffic from that term. This allows you to come very close to pinning uniques for a term in a certain position.

Secondly, I would recommend getting a list of 5 or 10 base terms to use that you think will do well incase a few tank or are to competitive for you to rank in during the timeframe that you’ve set out for the SEO.

Also, explore and look at all the Google Lab tools, they’re there to be used and are quite fantastic. Some are really cool and I would take the time to explore them if you have it.