8 Awesome Places To Find Trending Topics In Your Niche

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Finding trending topics might sound like some secret ninja strategy, but it’s simpler than you think. The key is knowing where to look for those valuable nuggets of insight that inspire content, spark engagement, and fuel business growth.

Quick links for the trending topic sources:

Regardless of your industry and business model, there’s a goldmine of trends waiting to be discovered. Imagine the boost to your marketing if you’re tapping into the latest trends before your competitors even have them on their radar!

As a content creator, I’m always on the lookout for trending topics that dominate conversations. In this article, I’m sharing some of my favorite places to find what’s buzzing in your field, and even a couple of ways to discover future trends!

1. Exploding Topics

If you’re wondering how to find trending topics in your niche earlier than everybody else, Exploding Topics is arguably the best place to start.

Co-founded by Brian Dean, a well-known SEO expert, this tool is clearly made with content creators and digital business owners in mind.

It gives you access to a growing database of 770k+ trending topics, products that are rapidly gaining popularity, and even up-and-coming startups.

exploding topics example of finding trending topics

At its core, Exploding Topics uses real-time data to uncover growing trends before they become oversaturated.

It analyzes millions of searches, social media conversations, and online publications to pinpoint hot topics (and those that are just now warming up), allowing you to capitalize on emerging interests.

Why it’s helpful:

  • Niche-specific: Exploding Topics lets you explore trends by categories and use search for relevant topics, ensuring relevance to your specific market.
  • Early detection: See trends as they start to emerge, allowing you to integrate them into your content and strategy early on.
  • Data-backed: This tool provides actual search volume and growth patterns, giving you a clear understanding of a trend’s potential.

One of my favorite features in Exploding Topics is called Related Trends, and it shows you a bunch of relevant topics related to whatever you are looking into.

This is like keyword research on steroids because it only shows topics with positive trend trajectories!

exploding topics review related trends

There is also trend forecasting, which uses AI to predict the future trajectory of each topic.

If staying ahead of the curve is important in your field, Exploding Topics can be a valuable asset.

2. Google Trends

You likely know Google as the go-to for search, but did you know it also has a robust trend-tracking tool?

Google Trends is a free and straightforward way to explore how search interest in topics changes over time. It’s a fantastic tool for understanding what people are looking for and how that relates to your niche.

I mostly use it to compare different topics when I have several content or product ideas and want to validate them before I start working on them.

google trends comparison

Google Trends analyzes a massive sample of Google search data to visualize interest in specific topics or keywords.

You can also explore regional differences and even see related searches for deeper insights.

google trends related topics

This is not as sophisticated and helpful as Exploding Topics, but it might give you some additional topics for research if you are on a budget.

Why this tool is helpful:

  • Accessible: Google Trends is free and easy to use, with a simple interface for analyzing search trends.
  • Broad scope: Tap into the vast data pool that is Google Search to gauge overall public interest in specific topics.
  • Historical data: Go beyond the “right now” and see how trends have evolved over time. This gives you context for the current popularity of a topic.

There is also a feature called Trending Now, but I personally don’t find it very useful – it’s all over the place and mostly shows stuff about celebrities and sports events.

Overall, Google Trends is a reliable tool for trend validation as it’s built on real search data, but it’s not as effective for trend discovery. (You can read my Exploding Topics vs Google Trends comparison for more details.)

3. Glimpse

Glimpse is another really useful tool designed to help you discover trends before they hit the mainstream.

Similar to Exploding Topics, it uses multiple consumer behavior signals from all over the internet to pinpoint what’s capturing users’ interest, giving you valuable insights to inform your marketing strategies.

homepage of glimpse, a tool for discovering trending topics early

Whether you’re in SEO, e-commerce, PR, market research, investing, or have a small niche online business, you can leverage insights from Glimpse to get ahead of your competitors.

Here are some of Glimpse’s key features:

  • Early trend detection: Uncover rising trends before they become oversaturated, allowing you to get ahead of the curve.
  • Identify conversation channels: See where consumers are discussing specific topics, allowing you to tailor your content and messaging for the right audience.
  • Real-time alerts: Get notified about trending keywords as they emerge so you can stay on top of what’s hot.

Other than topic discovery, I particularly like Glimpse because it offers a bunch of useful tools that visualize data in an easy-to-digest way (e.g., Topic Map) and provide additional data for your trend research (e.g., People Also Ask).

4. VidIQ

If you’re a content creator focused on video, particularly on YouTube, VidIQ is definitely worth checking out.

It taps into a huge pool of YouTube data to give you an edge in content creation, aiming to become your trend-spotting and idea-generating sidekick.

vidiq trend spotting

VidIQ mixes AI-powered tools with data analysis to help you find and leverage video trends. It’s a must-have for YouTubers because it offers a bunch of useful tools for anything from channel audit to competitive research.

I would say the most valuable feature for brainstorming is “Daily Ideas.” Basically, VidIQ analyzes trending topics, successful videos in your niche, and even your own channel’s performance in order to suggest new, relevant video ideas tailored to your audience.

Each suggested idea comes with a “View Prediction” score (like “High” or “Medium”) to understand its potential. While not a guarantee, it helps you prioritize ideas likely to gain traction.

Why VidIQ is helpful:

  • Made with video content in mind: VidIQ specializes in YouTube trends, which is a huge bonus for video-focused creators.
  • Fight creative block: An AI-powered assistant is always there for you with validated topic ideas that get your creative juices flowing.
  • Data-backed decisions: VidIQ’s insights can help you zero in on ideas that statistically have a better chance of resonating with your audience.

You can also set up email trend alerts and be notified regularly about videos and topics in your niche that are getting traction. This will help you keep your finger on the pulse and refine your own content strategy.

As if content analytics and trending topic suggestions weren’t enough, VidIQ has its own toolkit of helpful AI assistants, such as a tag generator, video script generator, YouTube description generator, and even a ChatGPT-powered AI coach you can talk to.

If you are always struggling to find ideas for the next video, VidIQ would be a great addition to your AI creator toolkit.

5. Thieve

Thieve is a great resource if you’re involved in e-commerce, particularly dropshipping. Or if you are a consultant for such businesses. Or if you are an affiliate marketer promoting physical products.

This tool offers curated collections of trending products from AliExpress, along with tools to make the whole sourcing process easier and more efficient.

thieve trending product ideas

I actually sometimes find myself just browsing around Thieve for my own shopping because there are so many unique products and interesting gift ideas!

Thieve eliminates the headache of sifting through endless products on AliExpress (which, let’s be honest, are mostly cheap junk).

If you use a tool like this, there’s no more wondering how to find trending products for your niche! Their team carefully selects items with potential, and provides tools to analyze product trends and supplier reliability.

Why it’s helpful:

  • Trendy and vetted: Thieve curates products that are already gaining traction, saving you a ton of research time.
  • Dropshipping focus: Perfect if you’re looking for reliable suppliers and products with high-profit potential.
  • Supplier analysis: Thieve helps you assess supplier trustworthiness and product quality, minimizing the risk of issues down the line.

You can browse Thieve by category, for example, Homeware, Outdoors, or Pets, and discover new winning products in your industry every day.

For each trending product, Thieve will also show you related topics and their trend trajectory:

thieve trending topics

Overall, Thieve is a valuable tool if your business model leans heavily on product sourcing and trend identification, especially within the dropshipping space.

6. Pinterest Trends

Pinterest is a visual powerhouse, and its built-in Trends tool provides a unique lens into what people are searching for and pinning.

It’s a fantastic way to discover trends with strong visual components, which can inspire everything from product design to marketing visuals.

You can specifically look at growing trends or seasonal trends, search for topics related to your keyword or niche, or just narrow down your audience and see what they are generally interested in.

how to find trending topics on pinterest

Even if you don’t utilize Pinterest as a source of traffic, you can leverage its database of almost half a billion users to identify new trends and content ideas!

Pinterest Trends analyzes billions of searches and pins to visualize emerging trends across categories like home decor, beauty, fashion, and more. It reveals keywords, related topics, and even demographic insights into who’s interested in these trends.

Why it’s helpful:

  • Visual inspiration: Pinterest Trends helps you see what’s trending beyond just words – a major advantage for visually-oriented businesses.
  • Niche discovery: Uncover trends in specific categories for focused insights relevant to your market.
  • Understanding your audience: The demographic data can help you tailor content and products that resonate with the right people.

As you look into a specific trend, you’ll see its trajectory over time, related trends, demographic interested in this particular topic (gender and age), and the most popular pins.

pinterest trending topic analysis

If visuals play a key role in your business, or you’re simply looking for a new perspective on trends, Pinterest Trends is an interesting free tool to play with.

7. BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a popular tool among content marketers because it can help your business in more than one way.

From analyzing competitor behavior and providing insights for your content strategy to social listening to digital PR and finding influencers for your brand, this is a well-rounded solution for taking your online marketing to the next level.

buzzsumo finding trending topic

When it comes to discovering trending topics, BuzzSumo tracks content engagement across various platforms, analyzes what content is performing well within your industry, and gives you valuable clues about trending topics for your blog.

buzzsumo finding trending topics
Image source: BuzzSumo

You can filter results by keyword, date range, content type, and more. You can then see various insightful statistics for that topic, such as user engagement over time and which social platforms it’s currently trending on.

This gives you deep insights into what people are resonating with on a large scale.

Why BuzzSumo is helpful:

  • Data-driven insights: See which topics and content formats are getting the most shares and engagement, revealing ongoing trends.
  • Competitor analysis: Buzzsumo lets you see what’s working for others in your space, helping you identify gaps and content opportunities.
  • Find trending topics for blogs: Specifically for blog content, Buzzsumo helps you uncover what headlines, topics, and angles are driving readership and spark conversations.

If you’re looking for a way to find trending topics for your blog and validate your trend ideas with real-world engagement data, Buzzsumo is a powerful tool to have in your arsenal.

8. Twitter trends

No matter the business field, I think Twitter (now X) is the best platform to stay in the know. While its primary function might be sharing short updates, Twitter’s trending features provide a real-time snapshot of what’s capturing the world’s attention.

If you go to the Explore tab in the sidebar, there is a section called Trending. It will show you the top 30 trends in your country, and you can look at difference countries as well via top corner settings button.

twitter x trending topics

However, I personally don’t find this very helpful because it doesn’t match my interests (same as with Google Trends – mostly sports or celebrity gossip).

That’s why the For You page exists.

It’s not called Trending, but in reality, it also shows the trending topics – this time, curated based on your interests. For me, it’s mostly business and technology.

twitter recommends trending topics for you

This page is personalized based on your activity, the people you follow, and what’s happening in your location. Its Trending section specifically highlights topics gaining a lot of buzz.

Why it’s helpful:

  • Personalized trends: The For You page tailors trends to your interests, making them much more relevant compared to general trending topics.
  • Breaking news and events: Twitter is often where major happenings break first, giving you an immediate sense of what’s hot.
  • Connect with your audience: Tap into what your followers are already discussing and create content that resonates.

Twitter will not give you competitive keywords or deep statistical insights but if you hang out there with other people from your industry, you’ll always know about the next hot thing on the horizon.

Final thoughts

You don’t have to be a tech wizard to stay on top of trends.

These resources make the process accessible to anyone.

Choose several tools from this list that make the most sense for your niche and introduce them into your marketing strategy and content planning over time.

This is how you create content that stands out from the crowd and attracts a dedicated audience.

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