6 Secret Tips for Using Google Trends for Dropshipping Success in 2024

Over the years, I have used several winning product tools. I realized that Google Trends is an excellent FREE alternative to paid ones.  

Here are the things I will share with you today: 

• Steps in finding winning products
• Tips to narrow your search and make it more effective
• Some FAQs

Key Takeaways: 

• Find trending products using Google Trends
• Trending products are great because the demand is there but not the competition yet
• Google Trends does not show the search volume
• Watch out for seasonality of search terms

By the end of this article, I am hoping that you gained the knowledge you need to use Google Trends to your advantage. Let us start!

How to Look for Winning Products on Google Trends

Looking for a winning product on Google Trends requires three simple steps. Just a word of caution: While you can find winning products this way, keep in mind that your competitors are doing the same thing. I would advise you to consider the tips we have in the next section for better results. 

To search for a trending product, you must first identify if there is a growing demand. It must be:

• A product that is growing in popularity
• A product that has a market niche or demand

For example, you know that a newly released iPhone will have a growing need for phone cases once it is out. As such, you must watch out for its release date.

Before the release date of the new iPhone, you must already have a plan for how to sell the cases, who to target, what ads to make, and what designs to sell.

By the time the new iPhone is out, all you need to do is release your ads, and you will be one of the few dropshippers who are on top of the game.

Keep in mind that the earlier you get into the trend, the more products you are likely to sell. Another example is the fidget spinner.

In this case, the fidget spinner was not an ideal product for some time. However, it picked up in August 2020—people were talking about it, and many videos of it went on social media.

If you watch trends consistently, you will know that this product will eventually explode. If you got into the trend early, like July of 2022, then you would have succeeded immensely in selling this item.

However, if you got into the trend in October of 2022, you would make little to no sales. By this point, there are hundreds of dropshippers competing against you. Worst, the market is no longer interested in what you have to offer.

1. Searching for product demand

The first thing you want is to know if there is a demand for the product you want to sell. To do this, you must decide on what keywords a customer is likely to use when searching for a product. 

In this example, let us say that I am a dropshipper of phone cases. What I would do is go to Google Trends and type the keyword “phone cases.”

As you can see from the screenshot above, the chart looks promising, as there is a huge search volume for phone cases. However, what this chart shows us is not enough. We need to dig deeper, and we will do that in the second step. 

2. Using the filters to narrow down results

As you use Google Trends, the system will either default its search results to your country or worldwide. The worldwide results can tell you if there is a massive search volume for your keyword, but it does not tell the demand per country. 

When using the filters, I suggest that you use the following: 

• Target country – choose a country where you plan to sell your dropshipping goods
• Duration – both the Past 12 months and the Past 5 years are good options. The last 12 months of data can tell you if there is a trend. The last five years can tell you if there is consistency in the demand. 
• Categories – toggle this if you want to narrow your search per category. Your choice depends on your product type. It makes sense to choose Autos & Vehicles if you are dropshipping automotive supplies. 
• Search Area – there are four areas, and these are Image Search, News Search, Google Shopping, and YouTube Search. If you choose Image Search, Google Trends will only show you the search trend in the Image Search platform. If you choose YouTube, Google Trends will show you the search trends only if the search the user made was on YouTube. 

Here is what it looks like:

As you can see, there is a reasonable demand for the phrase “phone cases.” As such, we can easily tell that it is a winning product.

In addition, the chart above shows there is a consistent trend for this keyword in the last five years in the United States. If I were to sell this item in the US, I know that I am not going in blindly—there is a market for phone cases, and Google can validate that. 

3. Comparing products

The last step is to compare products. There is a box where you can type another product. It is an exercise you must do when:

1. Deciding on a niche
2. Deciding on specific product types

So, let us say that I am torn between selling yoga mats and phone cases. All I have to do is use these two search phrases and see the results. 

From this chart, it is clear to me that between phone cases and yoga mats, the demand is higher for phone cases. 

Now, I must tell you that there is no right or wrong decision here. There is a market for yoga mats, but the market is small. If yoga is your passion, then go on. I assure you that you will succeed, provided that you have a background in the yoga niche. 

What if I want to compare product types? The process is the same. Please see the chart below: 

As you can see, there is a higher demand for iPhone cases than Samsung ones. The trend has been the same for the last five years. 

As a dropshipper, especially, if I am doing print-on-demand like Printify, I will sell iPhone cases first. The data tells me that there is a bigger market for iPhone cases than Samsung cases. 

6 Tips for Using Google Trends Effectively

In this section, I will share with you several tips to make your search efforts yield better results. 

1. Understand the numbers

Interpretation of data is critical in the decision-making process. For one, the numbers you see on the results do not represent search volume. 

The Y-axis, or the vertical numbers, represents a score between 0 and 100. The score is an indication of interest, not search volume. As such, you will never see any result apart from 0 to 100. 

A score of 0 means there was no interest or there is no search that happened. A score of 100 means that there is peak interest. 

Google will never show search volumes because people like marketers will use that data to game the system. In addition, Google does not, and will not, reveal the mathematical formula for how they score search terms.

So, what is a good score? 

While many experts will say that a score of 50 is what you must look for, it is not really a good idea to think that way. Interest is still interest—a score of 25 means people are searching for that term. It is up to you now to fill that demand. 

2. Compare several brands and products at once

Earlier, I showed you how to make a comparison search. Here, I am doing a deeper analysis. Take a look at this:

There is a higher interest in iPhone 14 cases than iPhone 13 cases. If you take into account a generic keyword like iPhone cases, you will think, “Okay, I will sell iPhone cases!”

However, what you did not know was that there is not as much demand for iPhone 13 cases anymore. The same thing goes with iPhone 12 cases.

Because of this, you can focus your effort on iPhone 14 cases. This example is a tad obvious. We know that the iPhone 14 is the latest model, and that is why there is a higher interest score for the iPhone 14 case.

You can do this exercise for other products. See below: 

If I had to choose between drones and RC cars, I would sell drones—if only I wanted to penetrate a huge market. The thing is I am not an expert on drones. So, it would also make sense for me to sell RC cars if that is a niche that I am passionate about. 

3. Select appropriate keywords that buyers use

Do not just type random keywords. Put yourself in a buyer’s shoes and think: What will this customer type when searching for a product? 

So, how do you come up with many permutations of keywords that users type? You can brainstorm or use a keyword research tool. These are SEO keyword tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, etc. These are expensive, so I would not recommend that you go this route. 

There are free keyword research tools out there, but the best is the Google Ads Keyword Planner. There are two options to do this, as shown below:

If you use Discover Keywords, you need to type your base keyword, choose the country, and then get the results. 

You will see something like this:

The keywords to the left are keywords that users type on Google Search. Pay attention to the average monthly searches, as it will give you an idea of how many people used this keyword per month. 

Finally, you can check the competition level. As you can see from the table, all of these keywords have a rating of High, which means many advertisers are using this keyword. 

The second method is not ideal for dropshipping. It is best for people who are about to advertise on the Google Ads network.

4.  Use the related terms

The other method for keyword search is to scroll down the Google Trends result, and you will see something like this:

Focus on the right side, and you will see keywords that are in the process of rising in popularity. These drones, like the Blackbird 4K, are keywords that the Google algorithm thinks will have a breakout. Perform the same keyword searches for these, and you will know if it is worthwhile to sell them. 

5. Focus on regions and markets, not the world

If you scroll down below the chart, you will see another chart that shows interest by region. Here is an example: 

We are only seeing the USA here because I filtered my “drone” search in the US. On the right side, we can see the top states with the highest interest for “drones.” 

I suggest that you do this for each keyword. You can also do this on a global scale. If I use the “blackbird 4k drone” as a keyword for a global search, this is what I get: 

Now we are going somewhere. The interest in this type of drone is high in the five countries shown above. As a dropshipper, I can tell that there is a market for the Blackbird 4k drone.

6. Watch out for spikes and seasonal products

The last tip is to watch out for spikes. The X-axis of the chart indicates time. You must at least try to see if a product seems to be seasonal. 

Take a look at this: 

Do you see these spikes? They represent a huge interest every Christmas Holiday, and this is worldwide data. People will only search for “Christmas décor” during the “-ber” months in preparation for the holidays. 

If we search for the term “jacket,” this is what we see: 

Do the same for the products you want to sell, and you will see how the trend goes up and down over time. The spikes will tell you if the product you want to sell is seasonal or if there is consistent demand. 

Partnering Google Trends with Dropship.IO

Now that we know how to use Google Trends to find winning products, it is time to see hard data to validate the idea. 

Dropship.IO is the best tool to do this. I suggest that you sign up for an account now, and use our 7-day free trial offer, so you can do the same exercises that I will show you here. 

The example I want to use is “drone.” Once you get to your Dropsip.IO dashboard, click on the product database link.

Once you are in the product database, click on Advanced Filters, toggle Dropshipping Products Only, type the keyword, and then click on Search. 

Once the search results are in, click the arrows on either the sales Monthly Sales or Monthly Revenue to sort the data from highest to lowest. In this example, I am sorting the data based on Monthly Revenue. 

From here, we can see that there is a dropshipping store that made $300,000 in revenue in a month and sold 3,812 units for the same period. 

Then, there are many other products in the search results that can give you an idea of what specific drones are hot in the market. 

There are several things you can do from here, and what I suggest is you track the store. In this case, let us use the Drone UltraFly 4K, sold at Vocedez.com.BR. 

Click on Sales Tracker on the left panel. Once on the Sales Tracker page, type the URL of the store, and click on Start Tracking. 

The tool will add that store to your list. Now, click on that store row, and you will see this: 

There are many things you can do from here. For one, you can take a look at the apps used in this store. You can also check what theme they use on their Shopify store. 

Here are other things you can do: 

• See their sales trend based on different time durations
• View the products they sell
• Check if they run Facebook ads
• Visit their social media sites, if any

The best part is that you can click on the AliExpress logo to see who their suppliers are. You can also check if the product is available on Amazon. You can use these tools to find winning products in AliExpress or find top sellers on Amazon.

With all the data that we can provide you, I am sure that you can make data-driven business decisions. No more guesswork!

FAQ 

How do I find dropshipping product trends?

Follow the steps laid out earlier. This trick works at any time. Use Google Trends to observe changes in people’s interests regularly.

How do I use Google Trends on Shopify?

You can use it in the same way we did earlier. 

How do I use Google Trends to find a product to sell?

Use it to see if there is reasonable demand. This approach does not mean you should not sell products with low demand. For as long as there is a market, there are buyers. 

Can you use Google Ads for dropshipping?

Yes, you can use Google Ads for dropshipping. There is no policy in Google Ads against dropshipping stores. 

Summary

The next step I recommend is to try Dropship.IO. We offer a 7-day free trial where you can test our systems. I assure you that you will get more value from your Google Trends search if you partner it with our dropship spy tool!