Short answer: Google Trends shows how interest in a search changes over time and from place to place, on a scale from 0 to 100. Open Explore, type a term, add a second one to compare, and check the regions and the related searches. It shows relative interest, not the number of searches.
What Google Trends shows
Google Trends works with a sample of real searches made on Google. Google says the data is anonymized, grouped by topic and aggregated, so it can show interest worldwide or down to a city.
Each data point is divided by the total searches of its place and time range, then scaled from 0 to 100. That way, a big city doesn’t come first every time because it has more searches. Two regions with the same value can still have different search volumes.
Trends also leaves some searches out. Terms with very few searches show as 0, and repeated searches by the same person in a short time are removed. Queries with apostrophes and other special characters are filtered out, which matters if your business name has one. Searches made by Google’s own products, such as AI Mode and AI Overviews, are left out too. For monthly volumes, our guide to keyword research shows how to use Keyword Planner.
How to compare searches in Google Trends
- Open Google Trends and go to the Explore page.
- Type the first way customers might name your service.
- In the dropdown, choose Search term for those words, or a topic to include related searches.
- In the “Composer” box, add the second way of naming it.
- Switch the country location to the market you sell to.
- Compare the lines: a higher value means more interest relative to all searches.
- Scroll down to the related searches for each term.
You can compare up to 8 groups of terms at once. Trends doesn’t merge misspellings, synonyms or plural and singular versions, so compare each version you want to know about. In the search box, quotes keep an exact phrase, a plus sign means “or” and a minus sign leaves a word out.
A search term measures only the words you entered, with no synonyms or other spellings, which is what you want when you choose between two names for a service. Without quotes, it can include searches with those words in any order or with other words around them. A topic groups related searches across spellings and languages, and Google recommends a topic for the fullest view of a brand or concept.
How to read the numbers
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| A value from 0 to 100 | Interest relative to all searches in that place and time, not a count of searches. |
| A value of 0 | Too few people searched the term for Trends to show data. |
| Breakout | A rising related search that grew by more than 5,000%. |
| A sudden spike on a small term | Possibly statistical noise that Google adds to protect privacy, not real interest. |
Our own summary of the Trends Help pages on Google Trends data and related searches, read on November 6, 2026.
Google says Trends is not a scientific poll and is not a perfect mirror of search activity. It suggests treating the data as one data point among others before drawing conclusions, and comparing a small term with common searches to gauge its scale. Charts of 30 days or longer use UTC, while charts of 7 days or shorter use the time zone set in your browser or device.
Where people search for it
Below the chart, a map shows where your term is popular, with darker shades for places where it’s more likely to be searched. Hover over a region for details, and see the list of regions or cities ranked next to the map.
In the United States, Trends goes down to metro areas. Click the United States in the Regional interest map, then your state and then your metro area. If a region isn’t highlighted, it doesn’t mean nobody searches there, only that the term is more popular elsewhere.
Related and rising searches
At the bottom of the Explore page, Trends lists searches related to your term. Top searches are the ones people search most often in the same session as your term. Rising searches grew the most in the period you chose, with their growth as a percentage, or Breakout when it passed 5,000%.
Rising searches are a good source of questions for new pages and posts, and many of them are longer phrases. Our guide to long-tail keywords explains how to work with those.
The Trending now page shows searches that are rising right now in more than 100 countries and regions, refreshed on average every ten minutes. You can filter it by location and time, and export it as a CSV file or an RSS feed. To get an email when your own business name shows up in new results, our guide to Google Alerts shows how.
Before you act on a trend
- You compared at least two ways of naming what you sell.
- You chose search term or topic on purpose.
- The location matches the market you sell to.
- The time range is long enough to show the usual ups and downs.
- A spike on a small term was checked against a common search.
- You checked the volumes in a second tool before planning around them.
RememberGoogle Trends shows relative interest from 0 to 100, not search counts. Compare the words your customers might use, look at your region and your metro area, and use rising searches for new content ideas.
If you’d rather hand this off, our SEO services cover local, technical and AI-search SEO in English and Spanish. A person on our team approves every change before it goes live. Send us a WhatsApp or fill in the form.
Quick answers about Google Trends
Does Google Trends show how many people search for a term?
No. Google Trends divides each data point by the total searches of its place and time, then scales the result from 0 to 100. For monthly and average search volumes, Google points advertisers to its Google Ads data instead.
Why does my search term show 0 in Google Trends?
Trends only shows data for popular terms, so a term searched by very few people appears as 0. Try a broader term or a topic, a longer time range or a larger region before you decide nobody is searching for it.
What does Breakout mean in Google Trends?
In the rising searches of a term, Trends shows how much each related search grew compared with the previous time range. Breakout replaces that percentage when a search grew by more than 5,000%.
Should I compare search terms or topics in Google Trends?
A search term measures only the words you type, with no synonyms or other spellings, which helps when you compare two ways of naming a service. A topic groups related searches across spellings and languages, and Google recommends it for the fullest view of a brand or concept.
Can I see Google Trends data for my city?
In some countries, including the United States, Trends shows metro areas. Search your term, click the United States in the Regional interest map, then your state and then your metro area to see where interest is higher.
Sources
Sources from Trends Help, read on November 6, 2026: Get started with Google Trends. FAQ about Google Trends data. Compare Trends search terms. Compare search terms and topics. Explore results by region. Find related searches. Explore the searches that are Trending now. Search tips for Trends.