Comparing terms in Google Trends is essential to understanding a keyword fully, especially due to the tool's use of relative interest as opposed to absolute. In this guide, we'll walk through how to use the feature for optimal results, as well as cover some nuances and limitations to be aware of.
Compare 2-5 terms
Google Trends allows us to compare between 2-5 terms. Let's say we want to compare interest in TikTok and Reddit.
First, we'll enter our primary keyword, "TikTok", and hit Enter.
Then, we'll click the "+ Compare" button and add "Reddit."
Each term will be shown in a different color to make it easy to compare their relative search interest. It looks like reddit recently surpassed TikTok in search interest, despite underperforming for a number of years.
Understanding relative search interest
Google Trends doesn't provide absolute search volume numbers, instead showing relative interest, meaning that search interest is always shown relative to the highest point of interest among the compared group of terms.
In our example above, reddit set the definition of peak interest (100), and now every other point for both terms is measured in proportion to that moment.
This scale makes it easy to visually compare a handful of terms at same time, but it has limitations when we need precise data. For absolute search volume and more detailed insights, we can use Glimpse, a Chrome extension that enhances Google Trends by providing absolute search volume and other features, including seasonality, forecasting, and more.
Compare more than 5 terms
While Google Trends only allows us to compare up to five terms, we can use Glimpse to overcome this limitation. Let's compare the absolute search volumes for TikTok, Reddit, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram.
Install the Glimpse Chrome extension.
One at a time, enter each term in Glimpse and download as CSV.
To export into Google Sheets, simply click ‘Open in Google Sheets’ at the top right of the "Monthly Search Volume Over Time" section.
If we prefer Excel, we can download the CSV by clicking on the 3 vertical dots to the left of the Glimpse logo, then clicking the “download” icon.
Create a blank CSV and enter the headers "Time", followed by each query we want to compare.
Copy and paste individual data into our newly-created sheet.
Open the CSV of each term. Copy the range of dates from the "Time (week of)", then paste under the "Time" header in our new sheet.
Only do this once, and make sure the dates are the same across all individual sheets. This should be true if we downloaded all the sheets at the same time with the same parameters.
After pasting in the dates, copy the "Search Volume (Absolute)" data and paste under the corresponding header in our new sheet.
Repeat this process for all keywords until we have the absolute search volumes for our range of terms across the same dates in one sheet.
Select all our pasted data, including headers, then click Insert > Chart to graph the data. Double click on the graph to access the Chart editor to set up or customize your keyword comparison graph.
Comparing more than 5 keywords with absolute search volume data from Glimpse
Compare terms by Region
In addition to comparing search terms' interest over time, we can compare interest by region.
After adding two or more terms, this section displays the top regions sorted by the percentage of the combined search volume that is attributed to our primary term. Let's use a simpler example for this section, like "sunscreen" compared to "coat."
Indonesia ranks the highest, with searches for sunscreen making up the majority (87%) of the two terms’ combined search volume. Conversely, Egypt shows a majority interest in coats, with 53% of the combined volume. We can view the exact breakdowns by hovering over the blue and red bars.
Lastly, when examining the map, we see that coats dominate most regions, with only Indonesia and a few other Asian countries showing a preference for sunscreen.
This data can help provide a better understanding of global or regional preferences across topics.