Hey, HackerNoon fam!
Are you finding that first/next viral blog post a little too difficult to come by? Burning through pages of SEO tips faster than the sun through Icarus? I know the feeling well. Before I share some more tips that are hopefully a slow burn this time, let’s get something straight: appeasing our search overloads (Google) is not an exact science but a series of educated guesses built on a foundation of quality content. So, if you’re not interested in doing the work to write articles that offer real value, you can stop here and continue generating a million articles per day with your AI tools. For the rest of you, let’s talk search trends.
Google Trends (trends.google.com) is a free tool that helps you identify what users are actively searching for right now. It’s like having a direct line to the collective curiosity of the internet with info on topics and search queries that are gaining traction, peaking in popularity, or enjoying a resurgence of interest.
Identify Hot Topics: Once you’re in Google Trends, you first want to explore current trending searches with a broad strokes approach. I.e. before focusing on topics that align with your core
Find an Angle for Your Niche: A broad strokes approach is great generally. But if you’re working to establish yourself as a thought leader in a specific niche then you can’t just write about anything that’s trending, can you? Let’s say you run an AI blog with a focus on emerging research. As you’d imagine, the term “AI research” trends well. But there’s also a lot of competition for it. You want to find related search trends within this term that target long-tail keywords (less competitive highly specific search terms). You can use the comparison tool in Google Trends to see how related search terms fair side-by-side.
With this info, you may consider tailoring your next article to highlight the unique opportunities or challenges in those regions.
Use Related Queries: One of the most underrated features of Google Trends is the "related queries" section. This shows you what other terms people are searching for about your chosen topic. You can use this data to create a content cluster—a series of blog posts linked together by a central theme.
Capitalize on Seasonal Trends: Certain topics are seasonal, like "best gadgets for Christmas" or "AI trends in 2025." You can anticipate these trends and plan your content calendar accordingly. Google Trends lets you see recurring interest patterns, so if you notice that interest spikes for a particular topic around the same time each year, you can be ready with content just before the demand hits.
All published stories on HackerNoon can now be translated into any language! We’ve added 77 languages to the HackerNoon distribution machine. Watch your stats exponentially grow, rank for keywords in other languages, and reach a diverse but relevant audience with translations!
Learn how to translate your stories here.
We couldn’t add all 77 languages to a single story (we did list them all here if you’re interested)—just imagine the long list of language icons! 😮💨 Instead, a select number of stories were translated into 13 languages, with English, Spanish, and Japanese consistently included due to their rapid growth. The remaining 10 languages are randomized, making it a fun surprise to see where your work will appear. Visit some of the new languages homepage here, here, and here.
Voilà, ¡Aquí está!, ほら!, Ecco! There you go!
Until next time, Hackers, keep creating wonderful things!