When should you use Google Trends?

Use Google Trends when you need to compare the words people search for or see when a topic tends to draw interest. For a repair-shop app, that might help you decide whether to investigate “appointment reminder” or “booking reminder” first.

How do you compare two phrases?

Compare the phrases on the same chart with one location, time range and search type. That gives the two lines a common scale.

Set a shared comparison
In Explore, type "appointment reminder" with the straight double quotation marks and choose Search term. Add "booking reminder" the same way. Each quoted phrase can appear within a longer query. Set the location to where you want to serve shops, then use Web Search and the past 12 months for both.
Look at the pattern before the peak
Look for interest that appears across several weeks. If one spike dominates, check a longer time range or see whether related searches point to a different kind of appointment.
Write down one thing to verify
Choose one phrase to take into an interview. Ask someone who schedules repairs how they describe their current reminder process, using their words before you show your draft.

What does a score of 100 mean?

It marks the highest point of relative interest in the comparison. Google samples searches and measures a term’s share of searches for the place and time you selected. A score of 100 is neither 100 searches nor a count of people.

A zero can mean there was too little search activity for Google to show a result. A single small spike can also reflect statistical noise. If results are sparse, try a broader phrase and mark the original comparison as inconclusive.

What can the result tell you about the app?

It can suggest wording to explore for a guide or landing page and a time of year worth looking at. Questions about who has the problem, how they handle it today and whether they would pay need direct evidence.

If you see interest from several places, treat each score as a share of searches within that place. Equal scores can come from different total search counts.

What does it cost and what can you keep?

Google describes Trends Explore as free. You can download a chart’s data as a CSV file, which opens in a spreadsheet. Save the date, location, time range, search type and exact terms alongside it so you can explain the comparison later.

If you share a chart or use its data in a report, credit Google Trends. The downloaded values still use the chart’s relative scale.