![\"Bing](\"https://cdn.buttercms.com/kFdfdvwhQaKbCvrwB66r\")
Most marketers chasing AI visibility are focused on a few top platforms: ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, and Perplexity, for example. Microsoft Copilot rarely makes the list, despite Copilot surpassing 100 million monthly active users across Windows, Edge, Microsoft 365, and Bing.
\nIn February 2026, Bing Webmaster Tools launched AI Performance, a native dashboard showing how and when your content gets cited in Copilot and AI-generated Bing answers. It tracks which pages are being referenced, the queries that triggered those citations, and how citation volume shifts over time.
\nIn this guide, I’ll show you how to grow your LLM visibility by learning how to read Bing’s data, identify gaps in your coverage, build content that Copilot is more likely to cite, and use trend research to get ahead of the topics your competitors haven't touched yet.
\nAI Performance is a free reporting dashboard inside Bing Webmaster Tools, launched in February 2026.
\nIt gives website owners their first look at how content is cited across Microsoft's AI experiences—specifically Microsoft Copilot, AI-generated summaries in Bing, and select partner AI integrations.
\nBefore this, publishers had no direct way to measure their Copilot visibility. You could track traditional Bing search performance, but citations in AI-generated answers were completely invisible. AI Performance changes that by showing you four types of data:
\nOne important note: citations are not clicks. A citation means your content was visibly referenced in an AI-generated answer, not necessarily clicked on. These metrics are designed for trend analysis and visibility benchmarking, not as a replacement for traditional performance data.
\n[cta:trends]
\nLog into Bing Webmaster Tools, select your verified property, and open the “AI Performance” dashboard:
\nYou'll see citation data for the past 3 months by default, with options to view 7 days, 30 days, or a custom range.
\nTo read and gain insights from the report:
\n![\"The](\"https://cdn.buttercms.com/f7ZTMKsT12aDIpn70paw\")
![\"The](\"https://cdn.buttercms.com/I91tXB6ERMaaPta7Gbu7\")
Once you understand where you’re currently being cited, the next step is identifying where you’re not showing up.
\nLet’s take a look at how to find gaps in your citation coverage.
\nYour cited pages and grounding queries help you figure out where Copilot already trusts your content. The gaps (topics in your niche that aren't appearing in your grounding queries report) are where you have room to grow.
\nHere are a few ways to find those growth opportunities:
\nIf you publish broadly about a topic but only a narrow slice of it shows up in the dashboard, that's a signal your content in those other areas lacks the depth or clarity AI systems need to cite it confidently.
\nI’ll go over writing great content for AI citations in the next section.
\nIf a grounding query like \"email automation\" appears but \"email automation for small businesses\" doesn't, you may have a coverage gap at the subtopic level. AI systems cite content that matches query intent closely, so broad coverage of a topic doesn't guarantee visibility across all the related, more niche questions users ask.
\nPages that are indexed and receiving traditional search traffic but never appearing in citations might share some of these characteristics: they're thin on specifics, structured for reading rather than referencing, and/or covering topics with strong competition from other authoritative sources. These pages are candidates for a content audit before you create anything new.
\nThink you need to create new content (or update existing content) in order to show up in Copilot for more topics?
\nNext, I’ll give you a few tips for creating the types of content that Copilot wants to cite.
\nContent that gets cited in AI-generated answers is:
\nTo create content like that, follow these guidelines.
\nAI systems frequently pull from the opening sentences of a section, so front-load your main point rather than building toward it.
\nExample: A section about project management software that starts with \"Project management software helps teams track tasks, deadlines, and dependencies\" is more citable than one that opens with background context.
\nHeadings that are clear and descriptive give AI systems an explicit signal about what the section covers. Vague or clever headings make it harder for the model to match your content to a grounding query.
\nExample: Go with \"How to Set Up Email Automation for Ecommerce\" over “Getting Started” to begin your tutorial.
\nQuestion-and-answer formatting matches how users prompt AI tools. A clear question followed by a concise, self-contained answer is exactly the kind of chunk Copilot can cite accurately.
\nExample:
\n[Heading] What are the best books for small business owners?
\nThe best books for small business owners are…
\nData points, named examples, and cited sources make content more trustworthy as a reference. Vague assertions get passed over by Copilot and other LLMs in favor of content that gives AI something concrete to trust.
\nExample: According to Semrush research, AI search visitors are projected to surpass traditional search visitors by early 2028. Some industries may see this tipping point even sooner.
\nOutdated information gets deprioritized as AI systems favor fresher sources. If a cited page starts losing citation volume, a content refresh is often more effective than creating a new page on the same topic.
\nWhen you do update content, consider telling Bing to crawl it right away. To do that, use the “Request Indexing” button inside Bing’s URL Inspection tool:
\nNow you know how to identify content gaps and create the kind of content Copilot and other LLMs will want to cite.
\nThe next step in gaining more visibility in Copilot involves being really strategic with the content you’re adding to your website.
\nCreating citable content improves your chances of being referenced, but one-off articles can only take you so far. To scale your visibility across related queries, you need to expand that authority outward using topic clusters.
\nYour most-cited pages are typically your strongest starting point for expanding AI visibility. If Copilot already cites a page, that’s a sign that your content has established credibility on that topic. You can take advantage of that credibility by building out your content strategically—in topic clusters.
\nTopic clusters are a group of interlinked pages that cover a broad subject and its subtopics in depth, signaling to both search engines and AI systems that your site has far-reaching authority in that area.
\nHere are a few tips for creating successful topic clusters that boost your visibility in Copilot and other LLMs:
\nFirst, treat each cited page as a hub. Map out the subtopics, related questions, and adjacent concepts that surround it. A cited page on \"home office setup\" can anchor a cluster covering ergonomic desk chairs, monitor placement, lighting for video calls, and productivity tools for remote workers. Each supporting page deepens your topical authority and gives AI more of your content to draw from when answering related queries.
\nThen, match new pages to grounding query gaps. Go back to your Grounding Queries data in the AI Performance dashboard and think about phrases that are close to your cited topics but not yet appearing. Those are the subtopics your cluster is missing.
\nWriting directly to fill those gaps increases the likelihood that your new content will get pulled into citations on related queries.
\nNext, link cluster pages to each other deliberately. Internal links help both search engines and AI systems understand the relationship between your topics and pages. A cluster that's well-connected helps LLMs and search engines understand your widespread topical coverage.
\nFinally, prioritize depth over volume. Instead of focusing on publishing a lot of thin content on every subtopic, take your time and cover topics with thoughtful, in-depth, well-researched pieces. AI systems typically cite this type of content that fully addresses a question rather than just touches on it.
\nSo far, you’ve been working on expanding visibility based on existing citation data. But to get ahead, you need a way to identify topics before they show up in your dashboard.
\nIn the AI Performance dashboard, the Grounding Queries data tells you where you have visibility today. It doesn't tell you about the topics that are quietly gaining momentum in your industry that you might be able to grab Copilot visibility around tomorrow.
\nBut Exploding Topics will.
\nThe Exploding Topics Trends Database tracks over 1.1 million trends across industries, surfacing topics before they hit the mainstream. For your AI visibility strategy, finding emerging topics can be a huge win because getting cited early is significantly easier than trying to displace established sources once a topic is saturated.
\n[list=topic number=5 category=all]
\nTo find emerging topics in your niche, start with the Trends Database. Filter by your industry category and sort by growth stage.
\nTopics categorized as \"Exploding\" or \"Peak\" with relatively low existing content competition are your best opportunities—you can publish authoritative content while the competition is still fairly low.
\nNext, map trends to your grounding query themes. Cross-reference emerging topics against the grounding query themes already appearing in your AI Performance dashboard. A trend that's adjacent to a topic you're already being cited for is lower-risk, because you're expanding authority in an area where Copilot already recognizes your site, rather than starting from scratch.
\nMake sure to also take a look at the Meta Trends report. This section groups individual trends into bigger related clusters:
\nIf you find a meta trend that aligns with your industry, the trends within it are ready-made cluster topics. Each one is a candidate for a new page targeting an emerging grounding query.
\nPublishing on a trend three to six months before it peaks gives your content time to get indexed, earn citations from other sources, and build the credibility signals AI systems use when deciding what to cite.
\nYou now have a system: measure your visibility, identify gaps, build citable content, expand authority through clusters, and get ahead of emerging topics.
\nMarketers are excited about Bing’s AI Performance because it gives you something that didn't exist until recently: a direct window into how Microsoft's AI ecosystem uses your content. If you act on that data early, your authority will be harder to displace once the space gets more competitive.
\nThe other side of that equation is knowing which topics are worth building around in the first place. Exploding Topics helps by surfacing trends in your industry before they reach their peak search volume, so you can publish authoritative content while competitors are still catching up.
\nStart an Exploding Topics Pro trial today to find the emerging topics you can use now to gain more visibility in Copilot and other LLMs.
","summary":"Most marketers chasing AI visibility are focused on a few top platforms: ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, and Perplexity, for example. Microsoft Copilot rarely makes the list, despite Copilot surpassing 100 million monthly active users across Windows, Edge, Microsoft 365, and Bing. In February 2026, Bing Webmaster Tools launched AI Performance, ...","seo_title":"How to Use Bing’s AI Performance Dashboard to Grow Your LLM Visibility","meta_description":"Learn how to use Bing’s AI Performance dashboard to track citations, identify content gaps, and grow your visibility in Copilot and AI-powered search.","featured_image_alt":"Bing AI Performance Blog Post Image","url":"https://explodingtopics.com/blog/bing-ai-performance","featured_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/output=f:webp/QBQ1jgNnQhyVzMt8asIb","author":{"bio":"Jolissa Skow is a senior content writer and content strategist with a background in SEO, Google Analytics, and WordPress. She's been published on Search Engine Land, G2, UpCity, Salesforce, and more, and her Google Analytics tutorials have been shared by Google on their social media platforms. She loves to read and runs a book blog in her spare time. She currently lives in Minneapolis, where you'll find her zipping around on her pedal-assist electric bike.","slug":"jolissa-skow","email":"jolissa.skow@gmail.com","title":"Senior Content Writer","last_name":"Skow","first_name":"Jolissa","facebook_url":"","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolissa-skow/","instagram_url":"","pinterest_url":"","profile_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/GYZYCKikRmeIz8F6odMV","twitter_handle":""},"tags":[],"categories":[{"name":"aiseo","slug":"aiseo"}]},{"status":"published","created":"2026-04-01T10:06:42.874271Z","updated":"2026-04-01T11:46:29.062296Z","published":"2026-04-01T10:05:24.210000Z","scheduled":null,"title":"The AI Myths Marketers Believed and What the Data Actually Shows","slug":"ai-marketing-survey","body":"What are real marketing departments doing with their budgets in the era of AI? Exploding Topics decided to find out.
\nWe surveyed over 1000 marketing budget decision-makers, and the answers we received completely rewrite some of the prevailing AI narratives.
\nWe found AI adoption at a massive scale. But we also found that the biggest AI adopters are also increasing their hiring the most: marketing tools might be getting replaced, but marketers are not.
\nYet in other ways, the responses still painted a picture of huge flux in marketing department budgets. The rise of AI optimization, massive lurches between social platforms, and evolving attitudes to attribution all emerged as key themes.
\nMarketing departments are no longer just experimenting with AI. In fact, a significant minority are now using the technology as their main marketing content creator.
\n28.27% of respondents said that AI produces the majority of their content, either with or without some human editorial oversight.
\nThat’s still slightly below the 36.21% of departments who mostly rely on internal teams for content. But AI has become the second most common marketing content lead, ahead of contractors (17.96%) and paid UGC (4.86%).
\nFactoring in marketers who report using a “fairly equal mix” (12.7%), more than 4 in 10 departments are using AI as a major content creator.
\nAnd the pace of adoption is increasing. 68.55% of marketing departments are increasing their levels of AI content.
\nAlmost 1 in 3 (32.04%) describe their attitude as “doubling down”: greatly increasing AI content and scaling back human labor hours.
\nVery few marketers are having second thoughts about AI. Just 2.18% are fully reversing course, with a further 3.57% drawing back a little.
\nAnd notably, only 9.82% of marketing departments still haven’t used any AI-generated marketing content.
\nThe Middle Atlantic emerges from the data as an AI marketing hub. 41.28% of respondents from the region are doubling down on AI, with just 1.7% reversing course.
\nMeanwhile, New England ranks among the most cautious areas. 22.22% have not used AI for any marketing content, and a further 18.52% are either reversing course or drawing back.
\nAs more marketing departments double down on AI, many existing tools have begun to fall by the wayside.
\nAlmost half (46.33%) of decision-makers have replaced “lots” of marketing tool subscriptions with AI alternatives.
\nA further 31.45% have replaced “a few” tools, with only 22.22% yet to jettison any of their existing marketing stack.
\nAnd the decision-makers with the deepest pockets are being the most ruthless with their existing subscriptions.
\nAmong the departments with the biggest budgets ($10M+), 94.2% have replaced at least some marketing subscriptions with AI tools.
\nOn the other hand, the smallest marketing departments (budgets of less than $100K) are by far the most likely not to have replaced any of their existing tools with AI. 60.2% are yet to make any changes.
\nBut as soon as budgets rise above $100K, most marketing departments are making AI-related changes to their stack. Among departments with budgets between $100K and $500K, only 21.85% have not replaced any of their tools with AI.
\n[list=topic number=5 category=marketing]
\nOne thing departments of all sizes seem to have in common is that AI is not currently producing a smaller, more efficient marketing stack. Only 9.22% of respondents report that their stack has gotten smaller in the past 12 months.
\nOn the contrary, 59.03% report at least a slight increase in the number of tools, signifying a shift toward more specialized software.
\nAnd the most aggressive adopters of AI (those who have replaced “lots” of subscriptions with AI alternatives) are actually by far the most likely to have increased the overall size of their marketing stack. 47.97% of this group have made significant increases in the past 12 months, and a further 35.12% have made slight increases.
\nBy comparison, it’s the marketing departments yet to replace any of their subscriptions with AI tools that are most likely to have reduced the size of their stack.
\nThe bottom line at the moment is that more AI tools generally equals more tools overall.
\nSo AI isn’t reducing the average marketing stack. And as it turns out, nor is it reducing budgets.
\nOnly 16.37% of respondents said that the rise of AI has led to a decrease in their marketing budget. It was far more common (41.96%) to report an increase.
\nOf course, most marketing departments are still in the early stages of full-scale AI adoption. Understandably, a significant minority of respondents felt that there had been no meaningful impact on budgets yet, or that it was too early to tell.
\nBut for those who have noticed an effect, AI generally isn’t being used as an excuse to cut costs. The West South Central region is something of an exception (34.02% reported decreased budgets), but the overall national picture poses a challenge to a persistent AI myth.
\nThere is a perception that managers are too quick to assume they can automate marketing functions, and that these decision-makers view AI as an easy cost-saving measure. But the data shows that AI is typically an additional investment.
\nHaving said that, there has still been a reallocation of resources away from existing marketing workflows. 40.28% of departments report that AI has caused a major budget reallocation.
\nCounting those who anticipate change within the next 12 months, 86.31% of marketing departments are planning or executing AI-driven budget reallocations.
\nHowever, marketing departments don’t seem to be replacing existing human labor with AI. In fact, 60.12% have actually expanded the size of their team within the past 12 months.
\nOnly 8.9% of marketing departments have seen any sort of reduction in size. That’s quite remarkable against a national backdrop of 1.17 million job cuts in 2025, and within a sector that is clearly embracing AI tools.
\nAnd against all expectations, departments who are “doubling down” on AI are also by far the most likely to be significantly expanding their teams.
\nIntuitively, you would expect the AI “reversers” to be the ones increasing hiring, bringing more staff on board in order to undo overambitious automation plans. But only 27.28% of the departments that are fully reversing course on AI have expanded the size of their departments in the past 12 months.
\n54.55% of these AI backpedallers have retained roughly the same team size, and 18.18% have actually made reductions.
\nIn stark contrast, 65.33% of the marketing departments going full steam ahead on AI have “significantly increased” team size in the last year. A further 17.03% have made slight increases, and only 5.58% have made any sort of reductions.
\nAnd as the above chart illustrates so clearly, AI adoption maps directly onto team expansion. At each increment of AI positivity, from reversing course through to doubling down, the percentage of teams who are significantly expanding their team size increases.
\nIn another piece of our original research, we found that 43.31% of workers fear AI making them look replaceable to their employer. But at least in a marketing context, it appears these fears are largely unfounded for the time being.
\nWhat might be causing this phenomenon? There are a few possible explanations:
\nA combination of all these factors is probably at play in most cases. But the upshot is that AI-enabled marketing teams are getting bigger, not smaller.
\nWe’ve covered how AI is being used for marketing. But we also need to consider how the rise of AI is changing the very purposes of marketing.
\nFor example, getting to the top of Google SERPs is a long-standing marketing goal. But with the dawn of AI Overviews and the increasing use of chatbots like ChatGPT, does that remain a top priority?
\nFirst and foremost, marketing departments are certainly aware of the need to appear in these next-generation searches. 71.52% have begun actively investing in influencing AI-generated answers.
\nAnother 15.77% are planning to start efforts to influence AI responses. That leaves just 12.7% of marketing departments with no plans to do so.
\nAnd AI optimization (AIO) is seeing some of the biggest budget increases.
\nRespondents were asked to select up to three marketing channels seeing the biggest budget uplifts. 36.61% selected AIO, behind only paid search (40.18%).
\nNotably, SEO is only seeing the biggest budget increases in 1 in 4 marketing departments. Only PR and partnerships are receiving a smaller share of budget boosts.
\nThat tells a clear story of shifting priorities. With AI Overviews significantly increasing zero-click searches, marketers have been forced to reassess, and the current focuses are ads and AI.
\n[cal:aio]
\nAnother element of evolving marketing strategy is platform shift. AI is prompting decision-makers to refocus attention on new channels.
\nMore than 95% of respondents said that they redistributed their platform investment in 2025. The number one reason for doing so was “influence in AI search or AI answers” (45.44%).
\nOther common reasons for refocusing included better performance/ROI (38.39%), moving audience (36.31%), and a better creator/influencer ecosystem (35.02%).
\nInterestingly, however, attention is not shifting uniformly from one platform to another. For instance, TikTok topped the charts for both gaining budget (53.87%) and losing it (35.52%).
\nTikTok, YouTube, and Google Search were the top budget gainers:
\nBut TikTok and Google Search featured in the top three again for losing budget:
\nThe number of platforms that place similarly in both lists illustrates the absence of a single winning playbook in 2026. Most platforms seem to be working well for some marketing departments but not others, and there is high churn as marketers try to find the winning formula.
\nOne potential exception is X, which did not make the top 5 for gaining budget, but was ranked 4th for losing budget. That suggests a net exodus away from Elon Musk’s platform among marketers.
\nMeanwhile, YouTube stands out as a more universal winner. Only 28.67% of marketing decision-makers are deprioritizing Alphabet’s video platform, whereas 52.08% are assigning it more budget.
\nAs well as being quite a known quantity amid instability elsewhere, YouTube has the benefit of being a top source for Gemini, so brand efforts on the platform can have a knock-on effect on AI visibility.
\nWhen posting to social media, most marketers are focused on building brand social accounts. 41.37% say this is their main emphasis.
\nMicro-influencers (19.84%) are slightly more likely to be a main focus than big influencers (17.76%). Meanwhile, a little over 1 in 10 departments are deprioritizing social media altogether.
\nAnd while AI is vastly changing the marketing landscape in many ways, AI influencers are yet to become a mainstream strategy. Fewer than 10% of marketing decision-makers are focused on creating them in-house.
\nAmid all of this uncertainty, what do marketers plan to do next? Most departments are actively experimenting, committing more funds to pilot projects.
\nA third of decision-makers (33.23%) are “significantly increasing” the budget assigned to pilot schemes, with another 26.69% “somewhat” increasing budget. Less than 8% are reducing their budget for running experiments.
\nThis ties into the significant platform churn we observed. To a certain extent, marketers are just having to throw things at the wall and see what sticks.
\nHowever, if there is one thing that stands out as “future-proof”, it is AI.
\nWe asked all of our 1000+ respondents to note down the marketing budget line item that feels most future-proof. AI was the clear recurring theme.
\nOn the other hand, “human” and “people” also appeared in a non-trivial number of responses. “Human employees”, “human touch”, “human oversight”, and “human content” were all submitted as answers.
\nIt’s also notable how prominently “none” featured, further underlining the sheer extent of uncertainty at present.
\nAs marketers step up pilot schemes and move to new platforms, how confident are they in their ability to see what is and isn’t working?
\nIt certainly feels as though rising zero-click searches and relative intangibles like AI brand sentiment should have made things harder for marketers, compared to long-standing click-based approaches to attribution.
\nHowever, 82.73% of respondents reported that leadership is at least somewhat confident in current attribution models. 43.25% reported being very confident.
\nOf course, you could argue that more than half of marketers feeling less than “very confident” does show some level of disruption within attribution. But it was surprising to see less than 1 in 5 respondents report any kind of skepticism.
\nAnd confidence in attribution is much higher among marketing departments who are actively trying to influence AI-generated answers.
\nAmong the decision-makers placing a priority on influencing AI-generated answers, 84.46% said they were “very confident” in current attribution models. Just 3.26% voiced any sort of skepticism.
\nBy contrast, attribution skepticism among those not even planning to try and influence AI answers reached 47.66%.
\nThis suggests that marketing departments yet to react to “the great decoupling” (an AI-fuelled rise in impressions and drop in clicks) are most likely to feel as though attribution is broken. But marketers who are proactively addressing the new era of AI searches are finding that they are able to quantify their efforts. Tools like Semrush Enterprise AIO are providing increasingly sophisticated solutions.
\n[cta:custom type=\"button\" heading=\"Get AI On Your Side\" cta_label=\"Analyze Your AI Visibility Now\" url=\"https://www.semrush.com/semrush-ai-toolkit\"]
\nDespite continued faith in attribution among most marketers, there is also a shift toward channels with less directly attributable revenue.
\nMore than 1 in 3 (37.3%) marketing departments are significantly increasing investment in channels like brand, PR, community, and AI visibility.
\nIncluding those who report a “slight” increase in investment, 65.08% of decision-makers are increasing spend on channels with less directly attributable revenue.
\nAnd while a reasonable minority (27.08%) are keeping investment roughly the same, only 7.84% are funnelling investment away from these channels.
\nCrucially, it appears that willingness to spend on these less attributable channels is closely linked to confidence in attribution models.
\nAmong marketing leaders with high confidence in attribution models, 76.15% are “significantly increasing” spending on channels with less directly attributable revenue.
\nAt the other end of the spectrum, 46.15% of respondents who were “very skeptical” about attribution models are also moving investment away from channels where attribution is hardest.
\nSo why would greater faith in attribution trigger more spending on less attributable channels?
\nIn some cases, marketing leaders are presumably satisfied that they have attribution models that can adequately account for channels like AI visibility. This essentially provides the data-backed “permission” to spend.
\nAlternatively, effective tracking of the channels with more directly-attributable revenue could be providing the headroom to experiment with other channels.
\nSure enough, 88.36% of decision-makers who are significantly increasing investment in experiments and pilot projects are also significantly increasing investment in channels with less directly attributable revenue.
\nThose who are significantly decreasing investment in pilot projects are also mostly drawing back from less attributable channels.
\nOur hard data from marketing leaders has certainly underlined the significance of AI. But it has also busted some prevalent myths.
\nAnd the real, on-the-ground situation is even more fascinating than some of the narratives that have been weaved. It paints a striking picture: AI is not the efficiency play envisaged by many, it’s an expansion play.
\nTo sum up:
\nIt’s the marketing departments yet to embrace AI that are more likely to find their backs against the wall in terms of weak attribution models, declining budgets, and shrinking teams.
\nPlatforms like Semrush Enterprise AIO can help you get to grips with the AI era, handing you back control of attribution and providing the data you need to start embracing expansion. Request a demo today.
\nThis survey was put to 1,837 respondents. Of those, 1,010 were marketing budget decision-makers, and 1,008 proceeded to complete the full survey.
\n35.18% were marketing managers, 26.76% were marketing leaders (CMO/VP/Head of Marketing), 21.11% were founders or CEOs, and 12.49% were consultants or agency workers. “Other” accounted for 4.46% of responses.
\n49.6% of the marketing decision-makers surveyed were male, and 50.2% were female. Respondents were drawn from all major US regions (there were no responses from US territories).
\n20.02% of respondents managed budgets of under $100,000. 26.76% managed budgets between $100,000 and $500,000. 31.22% managed budgets of $500,000 to $2,000,000. 15.16% managed budgets of up to $10,000,000, and 6.84% managed budgets in excess of $10,000,000.
","summary":"What are real marketing departments doing with their budgets in the era of AI? Exploding Topics decided to find out. We surveyed over 1000 marketing budget decision-makers, and the answers we received completely rewrite some of the prevailing AI narratives. We found AI adoption at a massive scale. But we ...","seo_title":"The AI Myths Marketers Believed and What the Data Actually Shows","meta_description":"We surveyed 1,000+ marketing leaders about AI and budgets. The results challenge everything: teams are growing, not shrinking, and tool stacks are expanding.","featured_image_alt":"AI Marketing Survey Blog Post Image","url":"https://explodingtopics.com/blog/ai-marketing-survey","featured_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/output=f:webp/EYBf7SGZRwWaJ5hpB2Kc","author":{"bio":"James is a Journalist at Exploding Topics. \r\n\r\nAfter graduating from the University of Oxford with a degree in Law, he completed a Diploma in Journalism through Press Association Training. He won the Premier League award for the best sports exam script. \r\n\r\nNow in his second spell with Exploding Topics, following three years covering Liverpool Football Club, James has a keen interest in the latest trends. He has been published in areas from AI to the commerce industry, with bylines including The Independent.","slug":"james-martin","email":"jamescmartin98@gmail.com","title":"Research Journalist","last_name":"Martin","first_name":"James","facebook_url":"","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-martin-117bb8171/","instagram_url":"","pinterest_url":"","profile_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/GCm7FjDRlG3oU5UIrwjw","twitter_handle":"@JamesMartin013"},"tags":[],"categories":[{"name":"marketing","slug":"marketing"}]},{"status":"published","created":"2022-08-22T10:39:39.583181Z","updated":"2026-04-01T11:51:06.004706Z","published":"2026-04-01T01:39:00Z","scheduled":null,"title":"Top Trending Topics (April 2026)","slug":"trending-topics","body":"This is a list of the top 100 trending topics in the US right now.
\nNote that the topics in this list aren’t fads (like new movies or video games).
\nInstead, these are long-term trends that are likely to see upward growth throughout 2026.
\n\nThe data from this list was generated using our proprietary algorithm and trend curation process.
\n| # | \nTopic | \nSearch Growth | \n
| 1 | \nJumping Spider Enclosure | \n790% | \n
| 2 | \nSalmon DNA Microneedling | \n8,300% | \n
| 3 | \nHealth Tracking Ring | \n5,100% | \n
| 4 | \nAI Earbuds | \n4,400% | \n
| 5 | \nPlaud Note | \n7,600% | \n
| 6 | \nCold Plunge Sauna | \n8,800% | \n
| 7 | \nPeptide Lip Balm | \n6,000% | \n
| 8 | \nBooktok | \n1,000% | \n
| 9 | \nBeehiiv | \n8,600% | \n
| 10 | \nPermanent Jewelry | \n3,450% | \n
| 11 | \nWifi 7 Router | \n2,533% | \n
| 12 | \nPupsicle | \n2,075% | \n
| 13 | \nWalking Pad | \n3,150% | \n
| 14 | \nAI Story Generator | \n4,500% | \n
| 15 | \nBuldak Ramen | \n1,380% | \n
| 16 | \nAI Mirror | \n9,200% | \n
| 17 | \nAI Image Enhancer | \n7,800% | \n
| 18 | \nWorkwhile | \n780% | \n
| 19 | \nINNBeauty Project | \n988% | \n
| 20 | \nDUPR | \n2,400% | \n
| 21 | \nCold Plunge Tub | \n2,700% | \n
| 22 | \nShoe Washing Bag | \n883% | \n
| 23 | \nTumble Rug | \n2,433% | \n
| 24 | \nAI Robot | \n1,280% | \n
| 25 | \nBoneless Couch | \n9,800 | \n
| 26 | \nViwoods | \n4,400% | \n
| 27 | \nWanderlog | \n6,900% | \n
| 28 | \nAI Personal Assistant | \n8,800% | \n
| 29 | \nSuri Toothbrush | \n6,500% | \n
| 30 | \nBoucle Bed Frame | \n99x+ | \n
| 31 | \nMilky Toner | \n4,800% | \n
| 32 | \nFluted Glass Cabinet | \n9,700% | \n
| 33 | \nDog Dental Powder | \n99x+ | \n
| 34 | \nPrequel Skincare | \n8,400% | \n
| 35 | \nNotegpt | \n9,400% | \n
| 36 | \nOwala | \n6,500% | \n
| 37 | \nAirplane Phone Holder | \n6,600% | \n
| 38 | \nPDRN Toner | \n99x+ | \n
| 39 | \nTalking Flash Cards | \n5,200% | \n
| 40 | \nPDRN | \n99x+ | \n
| 41 | \nTheraFace | \n4,000% | \n
| 42 | \nMofusand Blind Box | \n4,900% | \n
| 43 | \nIonic Thermal Brush | \n5,000% | \n
| 44 | \nPrompt Engineering | \n4,700% | \n
| 45 | \nVector Database | \n1,900% | \n
| 46 | \nWorkflow Automation | \n1,950% | \n
| 47 | \nPenpot | \n4,500% | \n
| 48 | \nCuripod | \n99x+ | \n
| 49 | \nTuta Email | \n9,700% | \n
| 50 | \nPrezi AI | \n6,300% | \n
| 51 | \nOled Gaming Laptop | \n1,467% | \n
| 52 | \nWorkflow Automation Platform | \n6,800% | \n
| 53 | \nAI for Teachers | \n7,100% | \n
| 54 | \nAgricultural Marketplace | \n4,700% | \n
| 55 | \nMixed Metal Jewelry | \n625% | \n
| 56 | \nOrganic Modern Kitchen | \n2,800% | \n
| 57 | \nBaby Bottle Washer | \n3,950% | \n
| 58 | \nAI Mini PC | \n7,100% | \n
| 59 | \nYemeni Coffee | \n99x+ | \n
| 60 | \nPistachio Perfume | \n4,900% | \n
| 61 | \nAI Air Fryer | \n5,800% | \n
| 62 | \nRed Light Mask | \n4,900% | \n
| 63 | \nTranslation Earbuds | \n6,000% | \n
| 64 | \nMagnetic Power Bank | \n3,133% | \n
| 65 | \nJellycat Charms | \n5,500% | \n
| 66 | \nCloud-Native | \n270% | \n
| 67 | \nOrganic Modern Kitchen | \n2,800% | \n
| 68 | \nBarrel Leg Pants | \n4,350% | \n
| 69 | \nBirch Juice Moisturizer | \n8,700% | \n
| 70 | \nGender Affirming Care | \n1,540% | \n
| 71 | \nAI Translator Headphones | \n1,700% | \n
| 72 | \nAlgae Cooking Oil | \n6,700% | \n
| 73 | \nAI Voice Detector | \n8,100% | \n
| 74 | \nHeatless Curler | \n780% | \n
| 75 | \nHigh Speed Hair Dryer | \n5,200% | \n
| 76 | \nLaptop Screen Extender | \n3,033% | \n
| 77 | \nAI Mouse | \n5,700% | \n
| 78 | \nPadel Shoes | \n2,867% | \n
| 79 | \nAI Music Generator | \n7,900% | \n
| 80 | \nAlgorithmic Bias | \n1,040% | \n
| 81 | \nMagnesium Glycinate Supplement | \n4,900% | \n
| 82 | \nTiphaus | \n9,300% | \n
| 83 | \nPartiful | \n9,200% | \n
| 84 | \nCarsized | \n4,800% | \n
| 85 | \nFastmoss | \n99x+ | \n
| 86 | \nDocuclipper | \n8,100% | \n
| 87 | \nHigh Speed Hair Dryer | \n5,200% | \n
| 88 | \nMomcozy | \n9,800% | \n
| 89 | \nPetfolk | \n9,000% | \n
| 90 | \nPilates Outfit | \n3,850% | \n
| 91 | \nSteamdeck | \n7,100% | \n
| 92 | \nPanthenol Moisturizer | \n4,850% | \n
| 93 | \nBarrel Fit Jeans | \n2,400% | \n
| 94 | \nLash Clusters | \n9,600% | \n
| 95 | \nProbiotic Soda | \n1,286% | \n
| 96 | \nAI Shoes | \n7,300% | \n
| 97 | \nLow Rise Sweatpants | \n1,700% | \n
| 98 | \nPickleball Grip | \n767% | \n
| 99 | \nGigpro | \n7,200% | \n
| 100 | \nAI Robot Dog | \n1,000% | \n
Pro Tip: Semrush is invaluable for analyzing competitors and boosting your topical authority around new trends.
\n[cta:keywords]
\nWith that, here is a collection of trending topics worth keeping an eye on:
\n5-year search growth: 4,900%
\nSearch growth status: Exploding
\nDescription: This supplement combines magnesium with the amino acid glycine, known for its high bioavailability and effectiveness in supporting muscle and nerve function, bone health, and energy production. It is distinguished by its ability to be easily absorbed by the body, reducing the likelihood of digestive discomfort often associated with other forms of magnesium supplements. The target demographic includes individuals seeking to improve their magnesium intake for better overall health, particularly those with deficiencies or increased needs due to lifestyle or health conditions.
\n5-year search growth: 7,900%
\nSearch growth status: Exploding
\nDescription: A specialized treatment focusing on the health and relaxation of the scalp and hair. The process typically involves deep cleansing, nutrient-rich conditioning, and techniques to stimulate blood flow, promoting hair growth and preventing hair loss. This holistic approach is beneficial for individuals seeking to maintain optimal scalp health and achieve stronger, more resilient hair.
\n5-year search growth: 9,700%
\nSearch growth status: Exploding
\nDescription: Tools that use machine learning algorithms to automate the creation of video content. They can produce high-quality videos quickly and efficiently, making them popular for various applications such as marketing, entertainment, and education. AI video generators are particularly beneficial for content creators, marketers, and educators looking to streamline video production processes.
\n[cta:keywords]
\n5-year search growth: 7,800%
\nSearch growth status: Exploding
\nDescription: Advanced software solutions that utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to improve the quality of images. These tools can automatically make adjustments and enhancements such as noise reduction, sharpening, color correction, and upscaling without requiring human intervention, thereby enhancing the overall quality and resolution. AI image enhancers are widely used in fields like photography, graphic design, and digital marketing to produce high-quality images efficiently.
\n5-year search growth: 7,100%
\nSearch growth status: Regular
\nDescription: Artificial intelligence for educators encompasses a range of tools and applications aimed at improving educational experiences. These technologies automate administrative tasks, personalize learning, and provide real-time feedback, thereby supporting teachers in crafting engaging content. The primary beneficiaries of these AI tools are educators seeking to enhance teaching efficiency and effectiveness, allowing them to concentrate more on student engagement.
\n5-year search growth: 1,933%
\nSearch growth status: Exploding
\nDescription: Activities or environments that fully engage an individual's senses, often creating a sense of presence in a different reality. These experiences utilize advanced technology such as virtual reality (VR) simulations, interactive art installations, and 360-degree videos to create realistic and interactive environments. Immersive experiences are particularly appealing to individuals seeking highly engaging and sensory-rich activities, including gamers, art enthusiasts, and professionals in training scenarios.
\n[cta:trafficanalytics]
\n5-year search growth: 2,400%
\nSearch growth status: Exploding
\nDescription: These are athletic footwear designed to improve running performance by integrating a carbon fiber plate within the midsole. This design feature enhances stiffness and energy return, thereby increasing running efficiency and speed, making them distinct from traditional running shoes. Carbon-plated running shoes are primarily targeted at competitive runners seeking to enhance their performance in races.
\n5-year search growth: 944%
\nSearch growth status: Exploding
\nDescription: Nicotine pouches are small, tobacco-less pouches that contain nicotine, flavorings, and sweeteners. Experts believe these pouches are safer than alternative nicotine products because they don't contain tobacco leaves and have fewer carcinogens. Zyn, the leading provider of nicotine pouches, brought in $446.8 million from nicotine pouches in 2025.
\n5-year search growth: 99x+
\nSearch growth status: Exploding
\nDescription: Creatine gummies are a dietary supplement designed to provide the benefits of creatine in a convenient, chewable form. These gummies aim to increase muscle mass, improve muscle strength, and enhance exercise performance, differentiating themselves from traditional creatine powders and capsules by offering a more palatable and easy-to-consume option. They are primarily targeted at athletes, bodybuilders, and fitness enthusiasts looking for an effective and convenient way to incorporate creatine into their supplement regimen.
\n5-year search growth: 7,700%
\nSearch growth status: Exploding
\nDescription: Technology that converts written text into spoken words using advanced machine learning algorithms. These systems, including tools like Google Text-to-Speech and Amazon Polly, are used in applications such as virtual assistants, audiobooks, and accessibility tools, with recent advancements focusing on improving the naturalness and expressiveness of the generated speech. The primary users of text-to-audio AI are developers, businesses, and individuals seeking to enhance user experience and accessibility through voice-enabled applications.
\nThat wraps up our list of current trending topics worth keeping an eye on.
\nThere are a few “big picture” patterns in this list. For example, many of the trends are related to beauty and natural health. And many others are tech-focused.
\nWe keep this list updated. Check back soon for updated data and trends.
","summary":"This is a list of the top 100 trending topics in the US right now.\n\nThe data from this list was generated using our proprietary algorithm and trend curation process.\n\nNote that the topics in this list aren’t fads (like new movies or video games).\n\nInstead, these are long-term trends that are likely to see upward growth throughout 2026.","seo_title":"Top Trending Topics (April 2026)","meta_description":"A regularly updated list of the top 100 trending topics in the US right now.","featured_image_alt":"Trending Topics Blog Post Image","url":"https://explodingtopics.com/blog/trending-topics","featured_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/output=f:webp/mRswz7EOToG5EN4jegIu","author":{"bio":"Fabio is a research associate at Exploding Topics.\r\n\r\nSince 2021, Fabio has researched, written, and edited articles for the Exploding Topics blog. Alongside this, he also manages social media content for X and LinkedIn.\r\n\r\nAway from his work at Exploding Topics, Fabio is Head Editor of the match report project at Flashscore.\r\n\r\nFabio has worked on thousands of articles and blog posts across a wide variety of industries including sports, technology, retail, and finance.","slug":"fabio-duarte","email":"fabio.p.duarte@outlook.com","title":"Research Associate","last_name":"Duarte","first_name":"Fabio","facebook_url":"","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabio-duarte-b6996318a/","instagram_url":"","pinterest_url":"","profile_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/dIHDuu0QOWurzcpz0eD4","twitter_handle":"@FDuarteWriting"},"tags":[{"name":"semrush","slug":"semrush"}],"categories":[{"name":"market-research","slug":"market-research"}]},{"status":"published","created":"2026-03-31T11:45:28.203619Z","updated":"2026-03-31T11:51:07.538972Z","published":"2026-03-31T11:44:37.012000Z","scheduled":null,"title":"How to Kill or Validate a Business Idea in 30 Minutes","slug":"validate-business-idea","body":"Business ideas are inherently exciting. But there is nothing financially or emotionally worse than getting carried away, sinking months into a project that was doomed to fail from the start.
\nJust 30 minutes of your time could answer the all-important question: could this really work?
\nWith the help of data, you can take a step back and complete an objective review. After half an hour or less, you’ll have significantly more clarity on numerous key points:
\nSo without further ado, let’s validate your business idea.
\nOr kill it.
\nMany of the best business ideas are born from a personal pain point. But that’s far from failsafe: the mere fact of knowing you would pay for a particular product or service does not guarantee the existence of a wider market.
\nIf you take one thing away from this guide, it should be that data is your friend when validating a business idea. It strips back all of the emotion and subjectivity.
\nSo the first thing to do is to see if anybody else wants what you’re planning to offer. If the answer is no, then your decision is clear: kill the idea.
\nThere are different ways you could go about doing this: you could conduct field research, run your own focus groups, or even create a simple prototype product to help gauge interest.
\nBut all of those things take time and money. And I promised 30 minutes.
\nThankfully, the incredibly valuable data that you need is probably already out there. You don’t need to start from scratch, you just need to know where to look.
\nA simple place to begin is checking search volume. You could use a free tool like Google Trends, but I prefer Exploding Topics, which gives you raw figures instead of a relative “0-100” scale.
\nAfter all, if I’m thinking about launching a business, it’s no good knowing that my idea is the most popular that it has ever been. If that only amounts to 60 searches per month, I’m going to struggle to find a market.
\nLet’s say I’ve been playing a lot of pickleball recently, and I’ve been unable to find adequate socks. Searching “pickleball socks” in the database gives me an immediate overview:
\nStraight away, I can see that the monthly global search volume is 2.9K. That’s not super-high, but it wouldn’t justify killing the business idea on the spot.
\nI can also see that there have been clear December search spikes since 2022. From this, I can infer that pickleball socks are growing in popularity as a seasonal gift for people who play the sport, but interest among enthusiasts themselves is progressing more gradually.
\nAgain, this alone may not justify a “kill” verdict. It might prompt a pivot in how I plan to market the product, but it isn’t necessarily terminal.
\nMy next simple step is toggling on the “forecast” option (another advantage of Exploding Topics over Google Trends). Based on millions of data points from online signals and similar search trend patterns, the platform is able to forecast the likely trajectory of the trend over the next 12 months.
\nThis forecast suggests that interest in pickleball socks may have peaked. For a search term which didn’t have the highest volumes in the first place, that’s enough to make the call: kill the idea.
\n[cta:trends]
\nIt isn’t always quite as simple as validate or kill.
\nHaving looked at the search volume, you may conclude that the trend you have identified is not yet strong enough to support a new business idea. But there is enough promise to keep an eye on it.
\nEven with something like the pickleball socks, you might decide that you’d like to keep track of whether or not the forecasted decline plays out as predicted.
\nIn situations like this, it’s important to keep a convenient log of your paused ideas, ideally somewhere that also continues to track changes in search interest.
\nIf you’re using Exploding Topics, you can use Trend Tracking for this. It will continuously monitor the 5-year trend line and monthly search volumes of your on-hold ideas.
\nAfter your quick initial search, you can move these ideas completely onto the back burner. Periodically checking in every couple of months or so will show you at a glance whether any paused ideas can be moved up to the next stage of validation (or if they need to be killed for good).
\nIf there’s consumer interest in your business idea, then it has passed the first hurdle. The next step is to check whether you’re offering anything different from what’s already out there.
\nAs a writer, let’s say I’ve identified writer’s block as a possible pain point, and hit upon the idea of an AI writing tool. One look at the trend shows me that this is not a sufficiently unique product idea.
\nGrowth is exploding. But the market is already well on its way to maturity, with over 200K searches per month: to stand any chance with a general-purpose AI writing agent, I would have needed to set out before April 2025 (66.3K monthly searches), when interest began to rise steeply. Ideally, I would have been marketing the product pre-2023.
\nThe verdict on this business idea in its current form is clear: kill.
\nHowever, I can look at related trends to see if there are any longer-tail searches that might yield a convincing USP.
\nGoogle Trends is good for this: when you look up a topic, it breaks down a list of related top queries and rising queries (albeit still without raw search numbers). Alternatively, the functionality is built into Exploding Topics, so you’ll see related trends under every search chart.
\nHere’s what it looks like for AI writing tools:
\nThis shows that tools for students, academics and authors have all shown some upward momentum, at far lower raw search volumes (you can check these by clicking into the individual trend). Catering to one of these markets could therefore have the hallmarks of a business idea with a USP.
\nBut in order to know that for sure, you need to do a bit of competitor analysis. That might sound daunting, but don’t worry: you’ll still have the whole process wrapped up in 30 minutes.
\nAt this stage in your research, the simplest method is often just a Google search. I typed in “AI academic writing tools”, and found out within seconds that there are already multiple players within the space.
\nFrom here, you could decide that the niche is already too congested. Or you could skim competitors’ sites for any obvious gaps or areas for improvement.
\nIncidentally, the Reddit result that featured high up my search could prove to be a very useful resource. It will be full of genuine users talking about what is and isn’t working for them.
\nIt’s also worth returning to a trend tracking platform to see how these newly-discovered competitors are faring. You don’t want to take inspiration from a business idea that isn’t working.
\nIn this case, Paperpal is clearly achieving excellent growth.
\nNevertheless, if you can’t find a genuine way of organically standing out, it’s time to kill the business idea. Otherwise, it’s onto the final stage.
\n[cta:market]
\nIf you have a target market and a USP, you’re a good chunk of the way there. But you still need to see if there is genuine room for growth before you have a fully validated business idea.
\nIf you checked the 1-year trend forecast at step 1, you’ve already taken a big step. Of course, it’s only predictive, but steep expected growth over the next 12 months is a very positive sign.
\nI’m about to become a father for the first time, and I’m thinking about what I’ll need for the baby. Let’s say I’m conscious about protecting their eyes and ears from splashes during bath time; a quick look at the trend forecast highlights this as a potentially high-growth idea.
\nBut even with a chart like this, you’ll still want to carry out some final checks. For that, you need to look at some secondary signals outside of traditional search growth.
\nIn the vast majority of cases, you won’t be selling a product that nobody has ever sold before. Naturally, you’ll want to take steps to stand out, but there will be useful points of comparison already on the market. It’s worth checking how consumer search interest is currently translating into hard sales.
\nIf I click on “product details” within Exploding Topics, I can see average sales data from Amazon. Using the baby shower caps example, top sellers are averaging a little over $8,000 per month.
\nI’m also going to check how baby shower caps are performing across various social channels. If you can, it’s good to find a trend tracking tool that picks up growth signals from multiple platforms.
\nIn this case, I can see that interest is especially high across Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
\nYou may want to do a quick search for your product on the platform(s) where it is gaining the most traction. This will only take a matter of minutes, but you’ll get more of an idea about how people are talking about the product, and where your messaging could fit in.
\nFor TikTok specifically, you can use the TikTok Insights tool. You’ll be able to view the top-performing videos directly, as well as accessing metrics on total posts, views, and likes.
\nWhen thinking about growth potential, it’s also sensible to check if there’s room for expansion from your initial idea. There are plenty of successful niche businesses, but ideally you’ll have a roadmap beyond a single product.
\nFor this, you’ll want to consider which “meta trends” your business idea fits into.
\nReturning to the shower cap idea, “baby on board” is a massive meta trend. So if you manage to find initial traction, there are all kinds of areas into which you could grow.
\nSo in theory, you’ve got a clear progression:
\nLaunch baby shower caps brand → Grow brand awareness on channels like TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest → Capitalize as product interest continues to grow → Branch out into related baby products once consumers trust your brand
\nStarting a business is still really hard, and validating the idea is only the first step. But in 30 minutes, you’ve been able to efficiently kill any non-starters, and clarify the ones that stand a real chance of success.
\n[cta:eyeon]
\nThat’s it! You’re done. And there’s probably enough time left in that 30 minutes for you to start brainstorming your next great business idea.
\nI would argue that this is where Exploding Topics stands out even more. Unlike lots of trend tracking alternatives, it is a platform for inspiration and discovery as well as targeted trend validation.
\nYou can browse it in a way that simply wouldn’t be possible with something like Google Trends. So rather than thinking of an idea and then going through all of the steps to check it, you can effectively scroll through a curated database of potentially viable jumping-off points within the niche of your choosing.
\nYou can filter by timeframe, growth, and volatility to really hone in on early-stage, high-velocity trends. So instead of relying on personal flashes of inspiration, and hoping you’ve hit upon market fit, you can start multiple stages ahead of your competitors.
\nAnd when that spark does come to you, you’ll have the data you need to validate or kill it without wasting time and money.
\nSign up for a free trial of Exploding Topics today to start validating business ideas without all the fuss.
","summary":"Business ideas are inherently exciting. But there is nothing financially or emotionally worse than getting carried away, sinking months into a project that was doomed to fail from the start. Just 30 minutes of your time could answer the all-important question: could this really work? With the help of data, ...","seo_title":"How to Kill or Validate a Business Idea in 30 Minutes","meta_description":"A bad business idea costs you time, money, and momentum. Here's how to use search trends, competitor data, and social signals to validate yours in 30 minutes.","featured_image_alt":"Validate Business Idea Blog Post Image","url":"https://explodingtopics.com/blog/validate-business-idea","featured_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/output=f:webp/32HvSGyxS8iOXQ7j4tRX","author":{"bio":"James is a Journalist at Exploding Topics. \r\n\r\nAfter graduating from the University of Oxford with a degree in Law, he completed a Diploma in Journalism through Press Association Training. He won the Premier League award for the best sports exam script. \r\n\r\nNow in his second spell with Exploding Topics, following three years covering Liverpool Football Club, James has a keen interest in the latest trends. He has been published in areas from AI to the commerce industry, with bylines including The Independent.","slug":"james-martin","email":"jamescmartin98@gmail.com","title":"Research Journalist","last_name":"Martin","first_name":"James","facebook_url":"","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-martin-117bb8171/","instagram_url":"","pinterest_url":"","profile_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/GCm7FjDRlG3oU5UIrwjw","twitter_handle":"@JamesMartin013"},"tags":[],"categories":[{"name":"market-research","slug":"market-research"}]},{"status":"published","created":"2026-03-26T10:26:01.716886Z","updated":"2026-03-26T11:26:13.517388Z","published":"2026-03-26T10:25:14.528000Z","scheduled":null,"title":"How to Master E-commerce Demand Forecasting + Find More Profitable Products","slug":"demand-forecasting","body":"Have you ever ordered too much of a product that quickly stops selling? Or ordered too little of something that takes off? Or maybe you've spotted the next big trending product just a touch too late—after a competitor already pretty much owns it.
\nConsumer trends now move at breakneck speed thanks to viral sharing platforms like TikTok and Instagram, making e-commerce demand forecasting much more difficult than it used to be.
\nIf you’re only using historical data, you’re missing a big part of a product’s potential. Instead, you need to combine that historical sales data (what's actually sold, when, and at what velocity) with forward-looking signals that predict where demand is heading.
\nWhen you combine the two, you get smarter inventory decisions, fewer stockouts, less dead stock, and a better shot at catching the next big product trend before it peaks.
\nIn this guide, I’ll walk you through a step-by-step process to master e-commerce demand forecasting and predict which new products you should stock next.
\nBefore jumping into the tutorial, here are a few things you should know.
\nE-commerce demand forecasting is the process of predicting how much of a product customers will want to buy over a future time period. Brands use those predictions to make decisions about inventory, purchasing, production, pricing, and marketing spend.
\nDone well, forecasting keeps your inventory aligned with actual demand, reduces dead stock, and ultimately helps you grow your business faster.
\nYou’re a busy e-commerce business owner, and you’ve gotten inventory decisions mostly right in the past. So why spend time and resources on forecasting?
\nWell, a significant portion of your working capital is usually tied up in inventory, right? Buy too much and you tie up capital in excess inventory; buy too little and you lose revenue to stockouts.
\nThat’s where demand forecasting comes in.
\nAccurate demand forecasting protects you on both ends. When you know what to expect, you order the right quantities at the right time, which keeps carrying costs down and fulfillment rates up. You also reduce the need for last-minute purchase orders, which often come with raised prices from suppliers and expedited shipping fees that eat into your margins.
\nE-commerce forecasting:
\nAnd for trend-driven categories like eco-friendly products, wellness, or seasonal goods, forecasting also gives you a timing advantage. Brands that identify rising demand early can build inventory and launch content while competitors are still catching up.
\n[list=product number=5]
\nFollow these six steps to start or improve your forecasting process and grow your store faster.
\nBefore you pull any data, get clear on what you're actually trying to forecast and over what time period. A short-term forecast covering the next 4–12 weeks will drive different decisions than a long-term forecast looking out 6–12 months.
\nThe differences:
\nYou’ll most likely need both running at the same time. The key is keeping them separate so one doesn't distort the other. For example, a viral sales spike in week three shouldn't skew your 12-month category forecast.
\nYour historical sales data is the foundation of any reliable forecast. Start by pulling at least 12–24 months of sales data (if you’ve got it), broken down by SKU.
\nYour primary data sources will be:
\nPull unit sales, revenue, return rates, and dates. But don't stop at sales data alone! Your site analytics contain demand signals that your transaction history misses entirely.
\nCart abandonment rates, for example, show you products customers wanted but didn't buy, which can reveal unfulfilled demand that never shows up in your revenue numbers. If you run promotions regularly, note those dates as well.
\nOnce you have the data, clean it before you do anything else. Look for three things in particular to clean:
\nAfter cleaning, look for seasonal patterns. Plot your weekly or monthly sales by SKU over the full data period and look for recurring peaks and troughs. Seasonality is one of the most predictable demand variables you have, so make sure to use it.
\nHistorical data tells you what customers wanted. It can't tell you what they're starting to want right now, especially for product categories that didn't exist in your catalog last year.
\nFor a peek into future trends and an opportunity to stock up-and-coming products before your competitors, check out Exploding Topics.
\nExploding Topics tracks search and interest trends across thousands of products and topics and surfaces ones with a history of steady, compounding Google search volume growth over months or years. It also provides a forecast for the next year so you can find the best growing-yet-not-peaked products for your store.
\nStart by opening the “Trending Products” dashboard:
\nHere, you can use the 9 different filters to find the most relevant trending products:
\nOnce you see a promising product you’d like to explore a bit deeper, click into it. On the product detail page, you’ll find:
\nIf a trend is rising in your niche but you don't yet carry a product that addresses it, you have a lead time advantage—you can source, list, and build content around it while competitors are still catching up.
\nUse what you find to test your long-term forecasts. If you were planning a modest inventory for a product category that Exploding Topics shows accelerating in interest, that's a signal to revisit your assumptions.
\nAnd if a product or trend is projected to keep climbing over the next 12 months, for instance, you can build that into your reorder plans and stock calculations rather than going only by your historical sales.
\nConversely, if a category you were planning to expand into shows a peaked or declining forecast, you have data to justify stocking less.
\nNow, with your clean historical data and trend signals in hand, you need a method to turn that information into an actual forecast. Forecasting methods generally fall into two categories: passive and active.
\nPassive forecasting uses your historical sales data to project forward. It works best for stable, established product lines where demand is relatively predictable from one period to the next.
\nActive forecasting incorporates external data such as market research, trend signals, economic indicators, and consumer behavior data alongside your sales history. It's better suited for trend-sensitive categories or any product where external factors are likely to shift the demand.
\nYou’ll probably want a blend of both passive and active forecasting. Your core catalog might run on passive forecasting with a seasonal adjustment, while newer or trend-driven SKUs would benefit from checking active signals like the Exploding Topics data you gathered in Step 3.
\nWithin those categories, the specific method you choose depends on how much data you have and how much complexity your operation can support.
\nA moving average is a practical starting point. A simple moving average takes your average unit sales over a defined period (like the last 12 weeks) and projects that forward. A weighted moving average does the same thing but gives more influence to recent weeks, which is useful if your sales are trending up or down.
\nIf your products have strong seasonal patterns, layer in a seasonal index. Calculate the ratio of each month's sales to your annual monthly average, then apply that multiplier to your baseline forecast. For example, a product that historically sells 40% above average in November gets a 1.4x multiplier applied to whatever your baseline projection is for that month.
\nIf you have a longer sales history and more SKUs, you may benefit from a time-series analysis, which detects trends and seasonal cycles in your data automatically. These are typically built into demand planning software rather than done manually in a spreadsheet.
\nFor new products where you have no sales history, shift to qualitative methods: look at comparable product launches in your catalog, use Exploding Topics trend data to gauge interest trajectory, and factor in supplier minimums and your risk tolerance.
\nIf you don’t currently have software to handle these, you can find a few helpful tutorials through the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
\nWith your method chosen, build out your forecast SKU by SKU for your timeframe. For each product, produce two numbers: your demand estimate (how many units you expect to sell) and your reorder point (the inventory level at which you need to place a new purchase order to avoid a stockout).
\nYour reorder point accounts for two things: lead time and safety stock.
\nLead time is how long it takes from placing a purchase order to receiving inventory.
\nSafety stock is a buffer you hold above your expected demand to absorb forecast errors or supply chain delays.
\nA simple formula for reorder point is:
\n(average daily sales × lead time in days) + safety stock
\nFor safety stock, a common approach is to multiply your average daily sales by the number of days of buffer you want to hold. How many days of buffer depends on how variable your demand is and how reliable your supplier lead times are.
\nKeep in mind that trend-driven products, like anything you've flagged as emerging in Exploding Topics, warrant a more conservative buffer, since demand can accelerate faster than your lead time allows you to respond.
\nDocument your assumptions as you build. If your forecast turns out to be wrong, you can note whether the error came from a bad demand estimate, an unexpected lead time change, or a supplier issue. Those audit notes will make your next forecast better.
\nA forecast is a living model, not a one-and-done task. Set out to review it monthly at minimum, comparing your forecast against actual sales for each SKU.
\nRevisit your Exploding Topics data at the same interval. Trends can shift quickly, and a category you flagged as emerging three months ago, for example, might now be approaching its peak or continuing to accelerate. Keeping your trend signals current makes sure your long-term forecasts reflect the current market, not the one you mapped out a few months ago.
\n[cta:trends]
\nTraditional forecasting methods work the best when demand is relatively stable and your sales history is long enough to show meaningful patterns. If that’s not true for your business, you’d definitely benefit from AI-powered forecasting.
\nWhereas a moving average or seasonal index can process the data you feed it manually, machine learning models can ingest dozens of variables (sales velocity, competitor pricing, social media signals, weather patterns, etc.) and identify relationships between them that no human analyst would spot in a spreadsheet.
\nThe more data the model sees over time, the more accurate its predictions become.
\nThe most practical application of AI in forecasting right now (unless you’re a large business) is using tools that already have AI built in. Demand planning platforms like Inventory Planner and Cin7 use AI to automate replenishment recommendations and flag anomalies in your sales data.
\nExploding Topics also uses AI to find rising consumer interest trends from search and social behavior at scale, detecting signals that would be incredibly difficult to track manually.
\nAI also changes how quickly you can respond to forecast errors. Traditional models are updated on a fixed schedule, whereas AI-powered systems can detect when actual sales are diverging from the forecast in real time and prompt you to adjust before a stockout or overstock situation develops.
\nThat said, AI forecasting is only as good as the data behind it. Feeding a machine learning model incomplete, uncleaned historical data will not have a good outcome. The fundamentals in the steps above still apply regardless of which tools you use.
\nEven a well-built forecast will miss sometimes. These are some of the most common variables that can cause errors in your forecasting:
\nDemand forecasting is fundamentally about reducing uncertainty. You'll never eliminate it entirely, but if you combine clean historical data with forward-looking trend signals consistently, you’ll make better inventory decisions and grow your sales faster.
\nStart with your historical data as a baseline, build seasonality and lead times into your reorder points, and use Exploding Topics to identify rising trends in your category.
","summary":"Have you ever ordered too much of a product that quickly stops selling? Or ordered too little of something that takes off? Or maybe you've spotted the next big trending product just a touch too late—after a competitor already pretty much owns it. Consumer trends now move at breakneck speed ...","seo_title":"How to Master E-commerce Demand Forecasting + Find More Profitable Products","meta_description":"Master e-commerce demand forecasting with this step-by-step guide. Learn how to use historical data and trend signals to make smarter inventory decisions.","featured_image_alt":"Demand Forecasting Blog Post Image","url":"https://explodingtopics.com/blog/demand-forecasting","featured_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/output=f:webp/g5C0R6UTp2VynWLRvbT8","author":{"bio":"Jolissa Skow is a senior content writer and content strategist with a background in SEO, Google Analytics, and WordPress. She's been published on Search Engine Land, G2, UpCity, Salesforce, and more, and her Google Analytics tutorials have been shared by Google on their social media platforms. She loves to read and runs a book blog in her spare time. She currently lives in Minneapolis, where you'll find her zipping around on her pedal-assist electric bike.","slug":"jolissa-skow","email":"jolissa.skow@gmail.com","title":"Senior Content Writer","last_name":"Skow","first_name":"Jolissa","facebook_url":"","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolissa-skow/","instagram_url":"","pinterest_url":"","profile_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/GYZYCKikRmeIz8F6odMV","twitter_handle":""},"tags":[],"categories":[{"name":"market-research","slug":"market-research"}]},{"status":"published","created":"2026-03-24T14:54:20.397643Z","updated":"2026-03-24T16:10:12.890380Z","published":"2026-03-24T14:53:33.313000Z","scheduled":null,"title":"Why Keyword Research Doesn't Work in 2026 (And What to Do Instead)","slug":"topic-research","body":"I was working on an in-house marketing team when Google’s AI Overviews debuted and organic traffic began dropping for many (if not most) websites all across the web.
\nEven despite maintaining our good keyword rankings, organic traffic dropped significantly.
\nSomething fundamental had shifted in the way search worked. I spent a lot of time analyzing data, running reports, and trying to figure out what we were missing. Eventually, I realized that we’d have to change our entire approach to keyword research, creating a content strategy, and building visibility online.
\nTraditional keyword research focuses on individual search queries. But AI search platforms like Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity don't work that way.
\nInstead, they understand topics, context, and relationships between concepts.
\nSo, creating content around and optimizing for individual keywords just doesn’t work anymore.
\nIf you want to maintain organic rankings while also building visibility in LLMs, you have to make the shift from keyword research to topic research instead.
\n[list=startup number=5 category=ai]
\nWhat does that mean, to shift from keywords to topics?
\nKeywords are specific search terms users type into search engines.
\nTopics are broader themes that encompass multiple related keywords, questions, and concepts.
\nThe key differences:
\n| \n | Keywords | \nTopics | \n
| Scope | \nSingle query or phrase | \nBroader theme with multiple subtopics | \n
| Focus | \nExact match terms and very slight variations | \nWider coverage | \n
| User intent | \nOne specific question | \nFull exploration of a subject | \n
| SEO impact | \nLimited to one query and slight variations | \nVisibility across many queries | \n
Over the past decade, Google’s updates have pushed search far beyond simple phrase matching toward a more contextual understanding of content.
\nGoogle and AI platforms now understand context, not just words. They recognize relationships between concepts, synthesize information across multiple sources, and prioritize comprehensive topic coverage over keyword density.
\nUser search behavior changed, too. People ask conversational questions instead of typing careful keyword phrases. They explore topics through multiple queries and expect AI to understand context from previous questions. In fact, according to Google, searches beginning with “tell me about…” jumped up 70% year-over-year in 2025.
\nPlus, according to Semrush research, ChatGPT cites pages ranking in positions 21+ almost 90% of the time. So higher keyword rankings won’t even ensure AI visibility.
\nThe takeaway: Your keyword rankings don't determine AI visibility. Factors like topical authority and contextual fit do.
\nSo how does topical authority actually work in practice? You need to be fluent in these two concepts: query fanout and topic clusters.
\nQuery fanout describes how one broad topic generates dozens or hundreds of related search queries. Instead of users searching for a single keyword, they explore topics through multiple questions and angles.
\nTake email marketing as an example. Traditional keyword research might identify queries like \"email marketing software,\" \"email marketing tips,\" or \"email marketing best practices.\" You'd create separate pieces targeting each keyword.
\nBut users don't actually search that way anymore. Someone interested in email marketing might ask AI platforms: How do I improve email deliverability? What's the best time to send marketing emails? How do I segment my email list? What email automation workflows work best? How do I stay compliant with regulations?
\nAll these queries relate to the same topic but use completely different keywords. That's query fanout in action.
\nThis changes what you create. Instead of writing separate articles for each individual query, you’re going to fan out your coverage with topic clusters.
\nTopic clusters organize content around broader themes. Whereas keyword research produces a list of target phrases, topic research produces a map of related concepts called topic clusters. You identify the core topic, map out subtopics and questions people ask about it, and create content that establishes authority across the entire topic area.
\nSo instead of writing separate articles targeting \"best email marketing software,\" \"email marketing tips,\" and \"email marketing ROI,\" you build wide coverage of the entire email marketing topic. Your pillar page addresses the core strategy. Your supporting content dives deep into software, deliverability, segmentation, automation, compliance, and analytics.
\nWhen AI platforms see this fanned out coverage, they recognize you as an authority on email marketing broadly, rather than just on individual keyword phrases. You get cited across hundreds of related searches instead of ranking for three specific keywords.
\nNow as a freelance content strategist, I’ve completely rebuilt my content research process around topics instead of keywords to help my clients gain AI visibility AND keep the organic clicks they’re managing to get.
\n[cta:trends]
\nThe framework I use now starts with identifying the right topics to target, then mapping out subtopics and questions.
\nHere’s my process:
\nFirst, you need to understand what your audience actually cares about. I use a couple different approaches depending on whether I'm looking for established topics or trending ones.
\nWhen researching established topics, I look at:
\nShooting for visibility around established topics is a great place to start, but creating content around trending topics provides a huge opportunity to grow your visibility faster.
\nWith up-and-coming topics, the content landscape is much less saturated, leaving more room for you to swoop in and build authority.
\nTo find those emerging topics, I use Exploding Topics Pro. It shows me which topics are gaining popularity—often months before they peak. I keep my ear to the ground on social media, but it’s difficult to do manually. Exploding Topics tracks data across search engines, social media, and consumer behavior to surface trends for me.
\nWhen I browse topics by industry category, I can see trending topics with their growth percentages and current search volume:
\nWhile I’ve definitely discovered topics via the Trends Database, what also works really well for me is searching by topic and then exploring related trends.
\nFor example, let’s say I’m building a content strategy for a new productivity app that helps you habit stack, set SMART goals, create recurring tasks, organize your to-dos, and more. While our audience includes anyone in need of a task management solution, one of our primary audiences is individuals with ADHD.
\nTo explore that content idea thread, I type “ADHD tips” into the Trend Analysis tool:
\nNow, I can see that “ADHD tips” itself is an exploding topic, with the highest amount of related activity on TikTok and Pinterest. I’ll file this idea away for later and scroll down to the Related Trends section. I sorted by volume, but you can also sort by growth or alphabetically by topic.
\nRight away, I’m seeing two trends that I think could be a great fit for the new app’s blog!
\nI love this list of related trends. It’s an awesome way for me to source trending content ideas that are going to pay off in the near future.
\nNotice those “Track Topic” buttons next to any topic, startup, or product you find in Exploding Topics? Click that and choose a project (or create a new one) to add it to.
\nI use the Trend Tracking dashboard in Exploding Topics to organize topics by theme or client:
\nWhen I find a topic worth monitoring, I add it to the relevant project and set up alerts. Exploding Topics notifies me when topics in my projects accelerate, so I catch the optimal timing window for content creation.
\nThis feature helps me track multiple topics simultaneously across totally different industries. I can monitor how each topic is developing and adjust my content calendar based on what’s trending.
\nOnce I've identified a topic to target, I map out a topic cluster or create content that I can add to an existing cluster. I look at the related topics Exploding Topics surfaces, then expand that research using tools like Semrush to identify specific questions and subtopics people are asking about.
\nThe goal is to understand the full scope of the topic and all the angles people approach it from. I create a pillar page for the main topic, then plan supporting content for each major subtopic. Internal links connect everything together.
\nSo for example, when I search “ADHD tips” in Semrush’s Keyword Magic tool, I’m seeing a few themes within that topic, like:
\nSo, those would serve as my subtopic articles.
\nDeciding what topics to focus on first can be a challenge. You want to grab visibility by going for emerging topics, but working on those established topics is important, too.
\nI try to shoot for a good mix. If a topic I’ve found in Exploding Topics is really promising, I’ll prioritize that because of its timeliness.
\nThen, I take note of Keyword Difficulty levels from Semrush (or run the keyword through the Free Keyword Difficulty Checker Tool). Super competitive topics are important, but I know it’s going to take more time and labor to gain visibility there.
\nEarly content on emerging topics builds authority and captures the initial wave of growing search interest. Content on established topics builds authority there, too, but takes more time. So, aim for a good mix of both.
\nNow, you’ve got your plan and you’ve started implementing your content strategy. How do you figure out if it's working?
\nTraditional rank tracking just doesn’t cut it anymore. Afterall, you can rank #1 for a target keyword and still not drive meaningful traffic or gain meaningful visibility.
\nInstead, you need to shift to tracking your visibility beyond keyword rankings in organic search.
\nI track topic visibility using Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit instead. It measures how often your brand gets mentioned across AI platforms (including Google’s AI Overviews) when users ask questions related to your topics.
\nThe toolkit shows your share of voice across topics compared to competitors. Instead of seeing that you rank #3 for a specific keyword, for example, you see what percentage of AI responses about a topic mention your brand.
\nYou can track this across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, and Gemini to understand where you have strong visibility and where competitors dominate.
\nTopic-level tracking helps you find opportunities your keyword research would miss. I've found topics where we have strong AI visibility despite weak traditional keyword rankings, and vice versa. Those insights help me understand what's actually driving business results versus what just looks good in a rank tracking dashboard.
\nFor more on topic tracking with Semrush, check out How I Use Semrush to Identify AI Visibility Opportunities.
\nKeyword research doesn’t identify the topics your audience is searching for in AI search engines and LLMs, which is a huge blind spot. Keywords also just don't represent the evolution of how most people are using search engines any longer.
\nInstead, they’re embracing AI tools and exploring wider topics before making decisions or clicking on sources. In fact, according to Google, searches beginning with “tell me about…” jumped up 70% year-over-year in 2025.
\nPlus, Semrush projects AI search will drive more traffic than traditional search by 2028. Topical authority will keep getting increasingly valuable as this shift accelerates. The work you put into building topic coverage today will establish visibility in AI answers that compounds over time.
\nTraditional keyword research optimizes for how search worked in the past. Topic research optimizes for how search works now and will work in the future. That difference determines whether you're building lasting authority and visibility.
\nStart tracking emerging topics with Exploding Topics Pro to build your topic research framework now.
","summary":"I was working on an in-house marketing team when Google’s AI Overviews debuted and organic traffic began dropping for many (if not most) websites all across the web. Even despite maintaining our good keyword rankings, organic traffic dropped significantly. Something fundamental had shifted in the way search worked. I spent ...","seo_title":"Why Keyword Research Doesn't Work in 2026 (And What to Do Instead)","meta_description":"Traditional keyword research doesn't work for AI search. Here's how to shift to topic research to drive visibility in AI search and LLMs.","featured_image_alt":"Topic Research Blog Post Image","url":"https://explodingtopics.com/blog/topic-research","featured_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/output=f:webp/URb2e2OeR4O1Boe7golT","author":{"bio":"Jolissa Skow is a senior content writer and content strategist with a background in SEO, Google Analytics, and WordPress. She's been published on Search Engine Land, G2, UpCity, Salesforce, and more, and her Google Analytics tutorials have been shared by Google on their social media platforms. She loves to read and runs a book blog in her spare time. She currently lives in Minneapolis, where you'll find her zipping around on her pedal-assist electric bike.","slug":"jolissa-skow","email":"jolissa.skow@gmail.com","title":"Senior Content Writer","last_name":"Skow","first_name":"Jolissa","facebook_url":"","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolissa-skow/","instagram_url":"","pinterest_url":"","profile_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/GYZYCKikRmeIz8F6odMV","twitter_handle":""},"tags":[],"categories":[{"name":"seo","slug":"seo"}]},{"status":"published","created":"2026-03-19T13:56:50.075860Z","updated":"2026-03-19T14:55:48.578786Z","published":"2026-03-19T13:36:52.789000Z","scheduled":null,"title":"How to Find Trending Dropshipping Products in 2026","slug":"find-trending-dropshipping-products","body":"Dropshipping is an easy entry point into e-commerce if you don’t have your own product to sell, but timing is everything when it comes to managing this type of business. Finding trending products before they take off will set you apart from other sellers.
\nExploding Topics makes staying on top of growing trends straightforward. You can even set up automated alerts using the Exploding Topics API so you know right away when interest is increasing around a product in your niche.
\nWhether you’re just getting started with dropshipping or you want to grow your existing e-commerce business, tapping into consumers’ tastes can make a big impact on your bottom line.
\nDropshipping can be simpler than coming up with your own product to sell, but it also comes with its own challenges.
\nApart from the logistics of finding suppliers and managing shipments, you’re also competing with millions of other sellers online. In order to stand out, you need to build a recognizable brand and a positive reputation with customers.
\nThere are a lot of elements that go into creating a brand, but one place to start is by finding your niche. While you could sell a wide variety of products on your e-commerce site, narrowing in on a specific category can help customers associate your brand name with the items you sell.
\nFor example, if you focus on dropshipping just beauty products, you’ll likely have an easier time growing your customer base than if you try to sell beauty, tech, and gaming products.
\nThe products themselves are important, too. Doing research to understand your target market and their needs will help you offer evergreen products that sell consistently. Pairing these with trending products that provide short-term sales boosts will keep revenue steady.
\nOnce you’ve narrowed down your niche, you can work on building your brand authority by publishing content related to the products you’re selling. You can write blog posts, make videos, post on social media, or a combination of these mediums.
\nAnother important factor to keep in mind is how your customers experience your e-commerce store. Partnering with reliable suppliers and offering support to customers so they can contact you if there’s a problem with their order will help them form positive associations with your business.
\n[cta:keywords]
\nChoosing the best dropshipping products for your e-commerce site requires a deep understanding of your customer base, knowledge of the market, and the ability to estimate profit potential.
\nFirst, you need to know the problems faced by your target audience so you can sell products that provide solutions. There are infinite possibilities here, depending on your niche and the price range for your products.
\nThis could mean selling shampoo that helps revitalize damaged hair, ergonomic gaming controls that offer comfort for hours of play, supplements that are easy to digest, or any number of other things. Doing competitor research, searching for consumer reviews on social media, or even looking through forums like Reddit can help you discover what your customers are struggling with.
\nIn addition to solving real problems for buyers, it’s helpful to find items with unique selling points. Appealing to shoppers’ values with products like vegan makeup or sustainable clothing is one example. Meowington’s fosters cats and donates products to shelters, using an ethical value proposition to attract customers.
\nYour brand’s customer service can also be a unique selling point. If you have a reputation for delivering quality products in a timely manner, and for being easy to contact and work with in the rare event something does go wrong, shoppers will be more likely to choose your business over one that isn’t as pleasant to deal with.
\nIt’s also important to dig into the metrics for products you’re considering. Offering products that are in high demand is important, but if the market is already saturated with similar items, you might find it difficult to sell even the most sought-after items.
\nOne way to lower the risk involved in adding new products to your catalog is to use a research tool like Exploding Topics, which brings together all the metrics you need to evaluate demand and potential revenue.
\nExploding Topics uses a variety of metrics to find the best trending products for your business. Getting started is simple, just open the app and click on Trending Products in the sidebar.
\nYou can use the dropdowns at the top of the screen to filter the products.
\nThe Timeframe can be set to longer periods (10 or 15 years) to help you find consistently high-performing products to be staples in your store, or to shorter periods (3 or 6 months) to find new trends that are just taking off.
\nI recommend choosing a mix of products that will consistently be strong sellers for your brand as well as a few items that are just starting to take off and can draw new customers to your site.
\nAs I mentioned above, having a niche is really important if you’re going to build a solid customer base and make repeat sales. The Category filter lets you view products in your specific industry so you can find items that are relevant to your audience.
\nKeep in mind that just because a product falls under your primary category, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good fit for your site. Always consider your target audience and think about the products that will be useful to them.
\nSelling quality products is also important for maintaining your reputation. Using the Reviews filter, you can focus on products that already have high customer ratings and feel confident you’re only shipping out the best of the best.
\nSelling low-quality products can lead to bad reviews on your own site and prevent shoppers from returning to make repeat purchases.
\nRebuilding your brand’s reputation after you’ve sold items that break easily or don’t work as advertised is very difficult, so it’s best to offer items that have proven they’re worth the cost from the get-go.
\nExploding Topics also includes a Price filter for trending products, which may be more important to your dropshipping business’s success than you think.
\nPart of evaluating your target audience is considering how much they’re willing to spend for a particular product or solution. You can pick the perfect trending product at just the right time, but if it’s out of your customers’ price range, you likely won’t see the returns you want.
\nThe other filters are best used together to help you judge the potential Return On Investment (ROI) for the trending products Exploding Topics shows you.
\nThese filters narrow your results according to:
\nThe exact right combination of these filters depends on how much risk you’re willing to take, your sales goals, and the logistics of your dropshipping business. Weigh them carefully, and try to find products with strong sales potential that are poised to take off in popularity.
\nIn addition to narrowing down your results with filters, you can also assess a product’s suitability by looking into its recent TikTok activity.
\nTikTok has become a popular place for advertising and selling products, and you can see the views for the top videos related to trending products right in the Exploding Topics app.
\nThis metric is another indicator of the current interest in the product, and could help inform your social media and content strategies as well as which items you sell on your site.
\n[cta:social]
\nIf you want to find new dropshipping products without having to open the Exploding Topics app, you can use the Exploding Topics API to develop a custom notification system.
\nThe /products endpoint includes parameters to narrow your responses by the same criteria as the filters in the Exploding Topics app. Developing a custom integration for your preferred communication platform can deliver trending products directly to you.
\nThis solution can be a time saver and may even help you spot trending products earlier so you can take advantage of their continued growth.
\nI personally enjoy using Slack, and it enables Pro users to create custom apps to integrate with third-party APIs like Exploding Topics.
\nFirst you’ll need to use the Deno Slack SDK to install the Slack CLI and authorize it in your workspace.
\nRun the slack create command and create a blank project, then create a custom function to call the Exploding Topics API. You can use the SendMessage function to post the response in a Slack channel.
\nFinding trending products is just one part of running a successful dropshipping business. Publishing authoritative content is one way to build your brand, and Semrush can help.
\nUsing the Keyword Strategy Builder, you can develop a new content strategy for your dropshipping site. Then track your content’s effectiveness by monitoring your traffic, search rankings, and AI visibility, all in Semrush.
\nTest it out with a free trial and see how Exploding Topics and Semrush can elevate your e-commerce brand.
","summary":"Dropshipping is an easy entry point into e-commerce if you don’t have your own product to sell, but timing is everything when it comes to managing this type of business. Finding trending products before they take off will set you apart from other sellers. Exploding Topics makes staying on top ...","seo_title":"How to Find Trending Dropshipping Products in 2026","meta_description":"Learn how to find trending dropshipping products in 2026 using data-driven tools, niche strategies, and proven tips to boost sales and grow your e-commerce brand.","featured_image_alt":"Find Trending Dropshipping Products Blog Post Image","url":"https://explodingtopics.com/blog/find-trending-dropshipping-products","featured_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/output=f:webp/We6dgVbBQa6MeQO3PCqO","author":{"bio":"Molly is a technical content writer with a passion for making technology easy for anyone to understand. She specializes in content strategy and implementing data-driven workflows that improve user experience. Molly holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Northwestern University, and loves blending her creative writing background with her technical writing experience to craft narratives that inform and engage readers. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and spending time with her family, including their many, many pets.","slug":"molly-tyler","email":"molly.tyler496@gmail.com","title":"Writer","last_name":"Tyler","first_name":"Molly","facebook_url":"","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-tyler-writer/","instagram_url":"","pinterest_url":"","profile_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/oCdUgSWR3e8Fwq2zeMdX","twitter_handle":""},"tags":[],"categories":[{"name":"market-research","slug":"market-research"}]},{"status":"published","created":"2026-03-19T11:40:41.470004Z","updated":"2026-03-19T11:42:59.869010Z","published":"2026-03-19T11:32:07.429000Z","scheduled":null,"title":"How One Entrepreneur Turns Bacteria Into a Trending Topic","slug":"probitec-case-study","body":"Jason Stewart was waking up to a new day in Cape Town, South Africa — and he was feeling surprisingly good. After a 13 year struggle with health issues that seemed to have no solution, he'd turned the corner.
\nThe reason for this positive change? Probiotic bacteria.
\n[list=topic number=5 category=nutrition]
\n\"I'd struggled to get out of bed, had bad immunity, and spent a lot of money seeing doctors,\" said Stewart. \"After a lot of effort and research, I finally learned about the role of gut health within our overall health.\"
\nIt was a discovery that would change Stewart's life in more ways than one.
\n\nAfter realizing that his gut health needed a fix, Stewart set out to find the best possible probiotics to support his body. But the first few brands he tried turned out to be a disappointment.
\n\"Standard probiotics are very fragile and will die if exposed to oxygen, light, moisture, or heat,\" said Stewart. \"Nine months after a normal probiotic capsule is produced, only 20% of the beneficial product is left. And when you swallow it, your stomach acid destroys the capsule and the majority of the probiotics.\"
\nStewart didn't stop his search, though, and he finally found a solution — a unique technology called Duo-Cap™. The Duo-Cap process placed probiotics inside of two capsules meant to protect the beneficial bacteria from all manner of environmental factors, even stomach acid.
\nThe benefits were amazing. Stewart's health turned around, and he knew he wanted to help others unlock the same benefits. By combining his personal health experiences with his background in advertising and branding, Stewart was able to launch Probitec, a high-quality probiotic capsule made with that very same Duo-Cap technology.
\nThe only thing left to do was get Probitec into the hands of the people who needed it most.
\nThe first step in this process was to connect directly with doctors and other medical professionals who might advise patients on what is and isn't true when it comes to gut health.
\n\"Doctors want the best for their patients, and they know that some claims made about probiotics aren't true. They're looking for the hardcore science; the proof,\" said Stewart. \"We do a lot of deep research around the strains in our products. We actually went into a pharmacy and bought our product off the shelf along with 11 competitors, then sent everything to a lab in Johannesburg.”
\nAfter undergoing lab testing both straight off of the shelf and after exposure to stomach acid, the superiority of Probitec’s product was undeniably clear.
\n“The majority of brands had zero colony forming units (CFUs), meaning the dose wasn’t viable. There would be no benefit.” said Stewart. “Our capsule sat at 14.3 billion CFUs, or 93% of our intended dose.”
\nBut Stewart knew that while medical professionals would be interested to know the details of Probitec’s CFU dosage over time, such details might be too technical for the general public.
\n\"TikTok is very influential right now. Part of what we're trying to do with our brand is demystify everything and challenge trending 'treatments' that aren't good for people,\" said Stewart. \"We take the ways that we communicate with doctors and make them more bite-sized, fun, and entertaining to drive through social media. We're not only promoting our brand, but also helping people understand biology, how we are built, and how bacteria work within us.\"
\n[cta:trends]
\nTo reach individuals on social media, though, Stewart and his team have to know what trends, topics, and hashtags to target with their science-backed information.
\n“We look at where consumers get their information from — where they are getting clues around what to do with their health,” said Stewart. “We know that includes search engines, AI overviews, social media, and people’s friends.”
\nFirst, Stewart researches what topics are spiking in interest on social media and in Google search. But he doesn’t just stick to his industry vertical. For example, Stewart is currently monitoring trends not only related to gut health, but skincare as well.
\n[list=topic number=5 category=skincare]
\n“I like to understand the ‘why’ behind a trending topic and look for further trends. This can include topics that are completely unrelated to my industry — if I can understand what’s driving someone’s interest in a trend, I can potentially link our product to it,” said Stewart. “A lot of trends that are global can be hidden in South Africa until a little bit later. And even if a trend isn’t directly relevant now, it plants a seed in my mind and keeps me aware of what’s going on. In an emerging market like our country, we have some time to act on trends.”
\nAs a busy entrepreneur, though, Stewart has to consciously make time to explore current and future trends.
\n“The Exploding Topics newsletter is honestly great for me, because it’s my weekly reminder to do research,” said Stewart. “Without it, I wouldn’t have the capacity or the time. I get the email every Tuesday afternoon around three o’clock and I read it religiously; I love it. It’s an incredibly useful resource.”
\nOnce he finds some trends to dig into, Stewart begins to think about what products might be of interest across multiple categories. Someone struggling with low immunity might benefit from a high-quality probiotic — but so could another person concerned about pimples, unaware of the connections between gut health and acne.
\nBecause gut health can impact so many different parts of the body, there continue to be new ways for Probitec to support its customers — both in terms of education and actual products.
\n“We’re very excited about extending our product range. We’ve got some products that will launch us into the kids’ health area, the female health area — specifically around pregnancy and menopause — and cognition, to help improve brain function,” said Stewart.
\nAnd while Probitec primarily serves the South African market, residents of other countries will get access to the company’s supplements in the future, too.
\n“We’re creating great impact here, but we’re also looking at other markets around the world,” said Stewart. It’s extremely exciting.“
\nUltimately, though, the most exciting thing for Stewart is getting to see how his products are helping others.
\n“It’s been incredibly rewarding from a personal perspective, getting to work on something that’s making an improvement in people’s daily lives,” Stewart said. “And even if someone reading this doesn’t have access to our product yet, I encourage them to look into the importance of the microbiome and the bacteria that live inside of us. What those bacteria do for us is so important — I really have an appreciation for these invisible things that influence how we experience life.\"
","summary":"Jason Stewart was waking up to a new day in Cape Town, South Africa — and he was feeling surprisingly good. After a 13 year struggle with health issues that seemed to have no solution, he'd turned the corner. The reason for this positive change? Probiotic bacteria. [list=topic number=5 category=nutrition] ...","seo_title":"How One Entrepreneur Turns Bacteria Into a Trending Topic","meta_description":"Cape Town entrepreneur Jason Stewart struggled with his health for years until he discovered the importance of gut bacteria. Now, he turns trends into a chance to help and educate others.","featured_image_alt":"Probitec Case Study Blog Post Image","url":"https://explodingtopics.com/blog/probitec-case-study","featured_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/output=f:webp/djlAmN2oTxey80QTP9LL","author":{"bio":"Emily is a freelance content writer at Exploding Topics. \r\n\r\nA former news correspondent, she has over 15 years' experience creating B2B SEO content that resonates with humans, not just algorithms. Through her SEO consultancy, she helps SaaS companies connect with their ideal audience through organic search. \r\n\r\nEmily can also be found leading SEO training sessions for nonprofits and incubators like Nest, WomensNet, and more.","slug":"emily-gertenbach","email":"emily@egcreativecontent.com","title":"Writer","last_name":"Gertenbach","first_name":"Emily","facebook_url":"","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/egertenbach/","instagram_url":"","pinterest_url":"","profile_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/phlwhfleSRa39eLcrrHf","twitter_handle":""},"tags":[],"categories":[{"name":"Case Studies","slug":"case-study"}]},{"status":"published","created":"2026-03-12T12:46:06.103462Z","updated":"2026-03-13T20:16:46.463975Z","published":"2026-03-12T12:45:03.992000Z","scheduled":null,"title":"How to Automate Trend Detection and Content Briefs with Exploding Topics (Step-by-Step)","slug":"et-n8n-automation","body":"The modern web revolves around trends.
\nAnd businesses with a strong content focus can’t afford to ignore the rise and fall of trending ideas in their niche.
\nWhen executed right, trend-focused content strategies can scale your online visibility and presence faster than anything else.
\nIn my experience, the number 1 reason most teams are unable to persist with trend-targeted content is the lack of systems.
\nYou need high-quality trend data (and fast) to go anywhere with this strategy in a meaningful way.
\nI built an automated trends monitor workflow that pipelines into a brief generator for qualifying topics using n8n.
\nIn this post, I’ll walk you through creating something similar for your team.
\nThe trends monitor automation is a time-saving system that finds the top winning trends every month and logs them in a sheet.
\nHere’s a snapshot of the full workflow in n8n:
\n(It’s easier than it looks.)
\nAnd once you’ve finished setting it up, you’ll have new trends coming into your sheet automatically every month:
\nFor each trend in the sheet, the automation will also generate a content brief before uploading it to your Google Drive:
\nReady to get started?
\n[cta:custom type=\"button\" heading=\"Pull Exploding Topics Data into Your Reports and Workflows\" cta_label=\"Get ET API\" url=\"https://www.semrush.com/apps/exploding-topics/\"]
\nTools you’ll need:
\nThe Exploding Topics API will serve as the data source supplying trend information for this automation.
\nThat's plenty for this workflow
\nOnce you’ve acquired the Exploding Topics Business plan, go to the app and click on “API Access\" on the sidebar menu.
\nFind your API Key and copy it.
\nThen, click the “Documentation” button at the bottom.
\nThis opens a page to construct API request URLs with the exact parameters you need for your trend monitoring system.
\nTo start, click on the green “Authorize” button on the right.
\nWhen the modal pops up, paste your API key and click the “Authorize” button underneath.
\nNext, expand open the GET/Topics endpoint to reveal its parameters. You can press the “Try it out” button to select your parameters and get the HTTP URL with your filters and parameters dialed in.
\nAs I said earlier, the exact parameters depend on your goals and the kind of trends you’re interested in.
\nFor this example, I want to focus on the trending topics that are showing the best growth figures in the past 6 months.
\nThese represent the high-potential topics with a recent history of rising growth.
\nAt the same time, content around these topics is usually unlikely to be saturated, giving you an opportunity to catch it before your competitors.
\nHere’s what the parameter settings would look like for a trend monitor sensitive to this scenario:
\n| Parameter | \nValue | \nWhy | \n
| Type | \nExploding | \nHigh-growth opportunities | \n
| Brand | \nFalse | \nIgnore branded terms | \n
| Categories | \n{select one or multiple categories matching your business niche} | \nExtract data from niche-relevant database | \n
| Sort | \nGrowth | \nFastest-rising topics MoM | \n
| Order | \nDesc | \nTop growing topics first | \n
| Timeframe | \n6 (in months) | \n6 months of data to supply trend context | \n
| Offset | \n0 | \nResults gathered from the beginning without skipping any | \n
| Limit | \n50 | \nTotal topics to retrieve in each API call | \n
| Response_timeframe | \nlast_12_months | \nGather data from recent search history | \n
Click on the “Execute” after setting your parameters to generate the full request URL for API calls:
\nCreate a Google Sheet with these 5 columns:
\nGive your sheet a descriptive title so you can easily find it later when connecting n8n with your spreadsheet.
\nNote: Don’t capitalize the first letter of your column names. This is necessary for mapping data from the API to the spreadsheet.
\nLog in to your n8n account and create a new workflow.
\nThe first node you need for the workflow is a trigger.
\nFor our purposes, it makes sense to use a scheduled trigger so that the automation runs on regular intervals to detect new trends.
\nAfter selecting the “On a schedule” trigger, use the rules to set a frequency of 1 month.
\nYou can use a more frequent schedule if you want to monitor upcoming trends in shorter intervals.
\nHowever, there’s a higher chance of returning zero fresh results that meet the minimum growth and volume criteria we will set later.
\nNext, add the HTTP Request node to the trigger.
\nCopy-paste the request URL that you generated with the Exploding Topics API documentation earlier into the URL field.
\nLeave the other fields to their default setting.
\nNext, we’ll add a JavaScript code node.
\nThe HTTP request sometimes returns data in a packed form with all the raw data inside a single field. This can cause the workflow to stop prematurely.
\nThis JavaScript code parses the data into a structured format. Other nodes in the workflow can then read it easily
\nWith the JavaScript code below, we can parse the data into a structured format.
\nOther nodes in the workflow can then read it easily:
\nAdd a Code node after the HTTP Request and paste in this JavaScript:
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// Loop over all items (usually just 1 from the API)\nreturn $input.all().map(item => {\n const json = item.json;\n\n // SCENARIO 1: The data is \"Squished\" inside a string called 'data'\n if (typeof json.data === 'string') {\n try {\n // Parse the string into real JSON\n const parsed = JSON.parse(json.data);\n return { json: parsed };\n } catch (e) {\n // If it fails, just pass the original item\n return item;\n }\n }\n\n // SCENARIO 2: The data is already perfect\n return item;\n});\n\nThe parser code will make sure the workflow keeps functioning smoothly regardless of the format of the output returned from the API call.
\nThe HTTP request node serves as the input to another node: a Google Sheets node with the “get rows in sheet action”.
\nHowever, you’ll need to enable connection between n8n and your Google Cloud to allow your automation to read and modify files in your Google Drive.
\nAs you add the get row(s) node, select the “Create new credential” option.
\nChoose “OAuth2 (recommended)” as your connection method.
\nThis will take you to your Google Cloud.
\nYou’ll need to set up a new project in your Google Cloud and set up the connection.
\nHere’s a helpful video walkthrough from n8n showing the entire connection process:
\n\nWhile you’re in your Google Cloud dashboard, make sure to enable APIs for your Google Drive, Google Sheets, and Google Docs as well
\nClick on the hamburger icon on the left (next to the Google Cloud logo) to open the navigation menu.
\nThen, hover your cursor over APIs and services and select “Library”.
\nUse the search bar to find Google Sheets and click on it.
\nClick “Enable”.
\nRepeat the process for other Google products like Drive and Docs to enable their APIs as well.
\nAfter you’re done with the setup, you’ll see a notification confirming that your account is connected.
\nClose this modal to move back to the parameter configuration for the Get row(s) node.
\nUpdate these settings:
\nI also used an additional option to force the instance to pull data only from the first column.
\nThis isn’t super important, but it helps the workflow function smoothly without being overloaded with data not needed for an operation.
\nI used the “Data Location on Sheet” option with the Specify Range (A1 Notation) method. To select the first column (keyword), you can specify the range as “A:A”.
\nIn step 4, we created a data parser to add structure to the API output when necessary.
\nNow, we need to connect the output of the parser to a Split Out node.
\nWhy’re we doing this?
\nBecause by default, n8n will process all trends coming from the API as a single item.
\nUsing the Split Out function, we can treat each trend as a separate item.
\nType in “result” in Fields to Split Out. This ensures that the node looks for the correct field from the API when separating trends into multiple individual ones.
\nNext, insert the Merge node.
\nThis is where the two branching paths that started from the parser and the Get row nodes will merge into one.
\nNaturally, the Merge operation needs two inputs. Follow this order for the input connections:
\nUpdate the parameter fields to combine data from the two data streams and retain only the unique trends that aren’t already in your log:
\nWith these settings, the Merge node will take care of passing new trends forward for every run.
\nWe’ll still need to add a filtering logic so that we only retrieve trends having a minimum growth and volume level.
\nThis can be handled by another JavaScript code, connected to the output of the Merge node.
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const newItems = [];\nconst MIN_VOL = 500; \nconst MIN_GROWTH = 40; \n\nfor (const item of $input.all()) {\n const json = item.json;\n if (!json.keyword) continue; // Skip ghost items\n\n // 1. EXTRACT METRICS\n const vol = json.absolute_volume || 0;\n const history = json.search_history || {};\n const growthObj = history.growth || {};\n const g3 = growthObj[\"3\"] || 0; \n const g6 = growthObj[\"6\"] || 0;\n const g12 = growthObj[\"12\"] || 0;\n\n // 2. FILTER LOGIC\n if (vol < MIN_VOL) continue;\n if (g6 < MIN_GROWTH) continue;\n\n // 3. CLEAN OUTPUT\n newItems.push({\n json: {\n keyword: json.keyword,\n volume: vol,\n growth: g6, \n status: \"Done\", \n date_added: new Date().toISOString().split('T')[0],\n // Context for AI\n description: json.description || \"\",\n growth_6mo: g6,\n growth_12mo: g12,\n related_trends: (json.related_trends || []).slice(0, 10)\n }\n });\n}\nreturn newItems;\nThe filter code I’m using accepts trends with a search volume of 500 and a minimum growth of 40%.
\nTrends that meet these criteria are unlikely to be too competitive while still growing fast enough to reach increasing levels of popularity in the months to come.
\nThese are the trends that most content marketing teams would want to target.
\nThat said, you can play around with the filters if you’d rather use different volume and growth thresholds. You’ll just have to change the numeric values in these two lines of the code:
\nconst MIN_VOL = 500; \nconst MIN_GROWTH = 40;\n
At this point, your automation flow should look something like this:
\nBefore the AI can process the trend data to generate briefs, I recommend adding a preliminary step for placing data limits.
\nThe Exploding Topics API request URL we generated earlier retrieves up to 50 search trends at a time.
\nIn most cases, 50 briefs a month would be quite the overkill.
\nYou need to add some cost and API credit control depending on your budget and capacity.
\nThe Limit node lets you control how many search trends you want to send to the AI agent for brief generation.
\nI use a limit of around 10 items, which is manageable from both AI credits and your production capacity standpoint.
\nAdditionally, we need to ensure the AI agent receives data for only one search trend at a time, so it doesn’t get overwhelmed and hit rate limits.
\nAdd the “Loop Over Items (Split in Batches)” and connect it to the output of the Limit node.
\nLeave the Batch Size to the default at 1 so the incoming stream of trend data is sent one by one to the AI.
\nConnect the loop output of the previous node to the AI Agent node.
\nClick open the AI Agent parameters. Set the “Source for Prompt” to “Define below”.
\nThis will let you enter a custom AI prompt with instructions for using the data input to generate a high-quality content brief.
\nHere’s the prompt I used:
\nYou are an expert SEO Content Strategist. Create a high-level Content Brief.
\n### 1. THE TOPIC DATA
* **Main Topic:** {{ $json.keyword }}
* **Definition:** {{ $json.description }}
* **Search Volume:** {{ $json.volume }}
* **Growth (6mo):** {{ $json.growth }}% (This is a \"Hot\" trend)
* **Growth (12mo):** {{ $json.growth_12mo }}%
### 2. RELATED TRENDS (CRITICAL)
* These are rising sub-topics related to the main keyword:
* {{ $json.related_trends.length > 0 ? JSON.stringify($json.related_trends) : \"No related trends provided.\" }}
### 3. YOUR TASK
**Step 1: RESEARCH**
* Use Google Search to analyze the Top 10 results for \"{{ $json.keyword }}\".
* Determine the User Intent (informational, transactional, commercial etc.).
**Step 2: STRATEGY**
* Find a \"Content Gap\": What are competitors missing?
* **Mandatory:** If \"Related Trends\" (Section 2) has data, you MUST pick at least 1 (preferably more) of them and integrate them into the outline as H2s or H3s. Use the ones with the strongest semantic connection and that contribute to the depth of the content. Do not ignore them.
**Step 3: WRITE THE BRIEF (Markdown)**
* **Strategy Section:** Define Target Audience and Winning Angle.
* **Title Options:** Provide 3 clickable title ideas (No generic \"Ultimate Guides\").
* **Outline:** A detailed H2/H3 structure with content notes.
### OUTPUT INSTRUCTIONS
* **slug:** Write a short, kebab-case-slug.
* **title:** Write the best SEO title from your options.
* **markdown_body:** Write the full Strategy and Outline here.
It’s a very detailed prompt that doesn’t leave anything ambiguous for the AI model. The instructions for the output format are deliberate and ensure the output is generated in a structured format.
\nI also recommend adding a system prompt to guide AI behavior when it’s interpreting provided data for brief generation.
\nClick “Add Option” and select “System Message”.
\nCopy-paste this prompt into the System Message textbox:
\nYou are a Senior Content Strategist and Subject Matter Expert. Your job is not to fill templates, but to design the most comprehensive, helpful, and high-ranking resource on the internet for a given topic.
\nYour Philosophy:
\n1. SEMANTIC COMPLETENESS: You analyze the topic to understand the full scope of the user's problem. You do not just stuff keywords; you answer the question behind the search.
2. DYNAMIC STRUCTURE: You determine the outline structure based solely on the topic's demands. A \"How-to\" topic gets a step-by-step structure; a \"Definition\" topic gets a conceptual deep-dive; a \"Comparison\" gets a feature breakdown.
3. DATA SYNTHESIS: You have access to \"Current Search Results\" (what exists) and \"Exploding Trends\" (what is rising). You must synthesize these. Use Exploding Trends to add cutting-edge value, but only if they fit naturally. If they are irrelevant, discard them.
Once that’s done, close the current model. Click on the “+” icon under Chat Model.
\nYou can select any model that you prefer. I recommend using an OpenAI model because it gives you built-in tools like web search as well.
\nUse your API credentials to connect the AI model with n8n. After you’re connected, you can select a specific model from the dropdown.
\nIf you’re using an OpenAI model, it’s a good idea to enable the “Use Responses API” toggle. Doing so will allow you to use built-in tools.
\nClick open the “Add Built-in Tool” menu and choose “Web Search”.
\nWe also need to require the chat model to produce output in schema format.
\nSelect “Response Format” from the Add Options menu. The format we need is “JSON Schema (recommended)”.
\nA verbosity level of medium is reasonable.
\nEnter a name for your schema (without spaces). Then, copy-paste the following JSON schema into the box:
\n![\"Partial](\"https://cdn.buttercms.com/MwNS4dgZQo284WntMfIc\")
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{\n \"type\": \"object\",\n \"properties\": {\n \"message\": {\n \"type\": \"string\"\n }\n },\n \"additionalProperties\": false,\n \"required\": [\"message\"]\n}\nThis completes the AI model configuration.
\nWe just need to take the output from the AI and upload the brief file to Drive now.
\nThe AI model will generate the brief, but it needs a few additional operations to convert the brief into an uploadable file.
\nTo do this, we’ll first add JavaScript code immediately after the AI model. Insert code into this component:
\n![\"response](\"https://cdn.buttercms.com/YlOUrWqQtWrPZky8jE9Q\")
// 1. Get the stringified JSON from the AI output\nconst rawString = $input.item.json.output;\n\n// 2. Parse it into a real Object\nconst aiData = JSON.parse(rawString);\n\n// 3. Create the File Content (Title + Body)\nconst fileContent = `# ${aiData.title}\\n\\n${aiData.markdown_body}`;\nconst binaryData = Buffer.from(fileContent, 'utf8');\n\nreturn {\n // Output flattened JSON so Google Drive can easily see {{ $json.slug }}\n json: {\n ...$input.item.json, // Keep original keyword/stats\n slug: aiData.slug,\n title: aiData.title\n },\n // Output the File\n binary: {\n data: {\n data: binaryData.toString('base64'),\n mimeType: 'text/markdown',\n fileName: `${aiData.slug}.md`, \n fileExtension: 'md'\n }\n }\n};\nNext in the series is the Google Drive node, with the Upload File action. The goal is to update the spreadsheet for your record and also to avoid retrieving duplicate trends during the next runs.
\nYou should already be connected to your Google Drive account since you previously connected Google Sheets in step 5.
\nAll you have to do is configure the file upload field parameters:
\nFinally, you need another Google Sheet node. Select the “Append or update row in sheet” action for this step.
\nIn the parameter panel, select the spreadsheet you created in step 2.
\nAfter that, choose the manual method for “Mapping Column Mode”, and enter “keyword” in the Column to Match on field.
\nWe need to map data from the Loop Over Items node to the columns in this sheet. Here are the corresponding values for each column:
\nThe setup is now complete. Don’t forget to save your workflow and run a test execution.
\nIf everything looks good, you can publish the workflow so it automatically runs on a schedule, churning out new content briefs and uploading them to our Drive folder.
\nYour content team can then take over the production based on the brief.
\nWhile these briefs are generally decent, I still recommend reviewing each brief manually.
\nYou also have the flexibility to connect this workflow to another one in n8n, such as an automation for blog post generation.
\nBut that’s up to you.
\nThe Exploding Topics API gives you access to a goldmine of trending content ideas that give you an edge among competitors.
\nThis automation is only one example of what you can achieve with the Exploding Topics API. You can create similar workflows to automate trend detection for products or startups as well.
\nGet your Exploding Topics API key today.
","summary":"The modern web revolves around trends. And businesses with a strong content focus can’t afford to ignore the rise and fall of trending ideas in their niche. When executed right, trend-focused content strategies can scale your online visibility and presence faster than anything else. In my experience, the number 1 ...","seo_title":"How to Automate Trend Detection and Content Briefs with Exploding Topics (Step-by-Step)","meta_description":"Find the best trending opportunities and turn them into AI-generated content briefs using the Exploding Topics API in n8n.","featured_image_alt":"Exploding Topics n8n Automation Blog Post Image","url":"https://explodingtopics.com/blog/et-n8n-automation","featured_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/output=f:webp/5fwzbMAQ8yXpK5VemYIA","author":{"bio":"Osama is an experienced writer and SEO strategist at Exploding Topics. He brings over 8 years of digital marketing experience, specializing in search optimized, long-form content. He also works as a freelance SEO, content, and email marketing consultant for small businesses. Osama also has bylines in tech blogs including HackerNoon, Infosecurity Magazine, BetaNews, MalwareBytes, and more.","slug":"osama-tahir","email":"obtahir92@gmail.com","title":"Content & SEO Specialist","last_name":"Tahir","first_name":"Osama","facebook_url":"","linkedin_url":"http://www.linkedin.com/in/obtahir","instagram_url":"","pinterest_url":"","profile_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/aIgziQHATla6kd1GWpgi","twitter_handle":""},"tags":[],"categories":[{"name":"market-research","slug":"market-research"}]},{"status":"published","created":"2026-03-03T12:03:36.601474Z","updated":"2026-03-19T15:52:34.989629Z","published":"2026-03-03T12:02:54.488000Z","scheduled":null,"title":"6 Trends Exploding Topics Found Super Early (+ How You Can Too)","slug":"trends-found-early","body":"At times, trend tracking can feel intangible. You know it’s important to stay on top of consumer patterns, but it’s difficult to visualize the direct effect it’s going to have on your business.
\nUnderstandably, you don’t want to make an investment in a trend-spotting tool like Exploding Topics until you’re sure that it really works.
\nIt does.
\nInstead of abstract examples and hypotheticals, I thought it would be helpful to show you some of the times when Exploding Topics was majorly early to products, startups and trends that went on to be massive.
\nYour business or investment strategy could have received a huge edge over competitors if you had access to our data: faster product launches, first-mover SEO dominance, lower ad costs, and lower acquisition costs.
\nThe trends below are just a tiny fraction of our success stories, and our trend spotting techniques are getting better all the time.
\nSnail mucin is the beauty industry’s name for snail slime. It has become vastly popular in cosmetics and skincare for its hydrating and anti-aging properties.
\nThe so-called “snail beauty” market hit $887.74 million in 2025. But by now, the trend is mature: it would be incredibly hard for the average e-commerce business to compete in a saturated snail mucin market, and consumer interest is likely to keep trending downward.
\nBut what if you could have found out about snail mucin in 2022, or even earlier? Even with the hype slowly dying down, the top sellers on Amazon today are still generating over $700,000 per month.
\nWith Exploding Topics, you would have had the opportunity to get in early. It was in our database as early as 2020.
\nAnd we didn’t just leave you to find it for yourself. We mentioned it numerous times in curated trend reports in early 2021. This one is from March, but we also flagged the trend in January and February:
\nWe still send reports like these to our subscribers every week. They are used to inform stocking decisions at top retailers like Target.
\n[list=product number=5 category=beauty]
\nYou don’t just have to rely on our newsletters for early trends. Although our team does a great job of curating them, and successful founders read them \"religiously\".
\nOnce you subscribe, you also have full access to a powerful database. And we’ve made it super easy to search, so you can find the next snail mucin in your niche in just a few easy steps.
\nLet’s say you want to find a health and wellness trend. You just navigate to that category in the Trends Database. And if you would like to narrow it down further, you can select from 9 subcategories:
\nFrom there, you can get even more granular.
\nIf you’re aggressively looking for early trends, you might want to tweak the criteria. You have multiple levers to pull: you can sort by newest “discovered date,” reduce the trends timeframe from 5 years all the way down to 3 months, and/or switch from stable to volatile trends.
\nHere’s what the nutrition sub-category looks like when searching for volatile, high-growth trends from the last 3 months (this search is from February 2026). It’s showing both brands and non-brands, but you could choose to switch between the two:
\nMeanwhile, if there’s a specific trend or product idea you want to validate, you can use the search feature. Even if it hasn’t been added to the database yet, you can use Trend Analysis to access the data you need.
\nThere are loads more functions within Exploding Topics, and you can check out our blog for detailed guides to features like Trend Tracking and TikTok Insights. Or you can try them out for yourself with a free trial.
\nBut now you know the basics of how the tool can surface trends, I’ll move on to some more success stories.
\nIn 2026, you’ve definitely heard of pickleball. An estimated 50 million Americans have played the sport in the last 12 months.
\nAnd lots of those players are buying pickleball paddles, pickleball shoes, pickleball bags… the list goes on.
\nThere’s still time to jump on some of these trends. Pickleball socks and pickleball grips both stand out as reasonably low-volume and high-growth.
\nBut think about what you could have done if you knew about pickleball in 2020. Brands like TENVINA and JoncAye have only emerged in the last few years, but they’re each selling more than 1,000 paddles per month on Amazon.
\nWhen pickleball first entered our database, it was at around 10% of its current search volume. We flagged it to subscribers in a December 2020 newsletter, when there were an estimated 4.2 million players in the US:
\nPadel (1.5M monthly search volume) and wing foiling (246K monthly search volume) haven’t done too badly in the last 5+ years either!
\n[list=topic number=5 category=sports-outdoors]
\nCozey is a Canadian modular furniture startup.
\nI say startup, but I’ve known about it for almost 5 years. That’s all down to Exploding Topics.
\nWe first mentioned Cozey in our newsletter in July 2021, about a month after a ~$1.5M private financing round and around a year after the company was founded.
\nAt that time, search volume for Cozey was around 4.6K per month. Today, it’s 74K.
\nIn the meantime, it’s raised another funding round worth around $11M. And in January last year, Axios reported that it expected to raise anywhere from $25M to $100M in debt and equity at its next round.
\nRevenue is in nine figures, with triple-digit annual growth.
\nLast September, AI giant Perplexity reportedly reached a $20B valuation.
\nWhen it first entered the Exploding Topics database, it hadn’t even raised a Series A round yet.
\nIt would go on to do so in March 2023, raising $25.6M after hitting 2M monthly users in the space of 4 months.
\nIts timeline has been meteoric:
\nNaturally, even after spotting the growth, only a select few would have been able to join these early funding rounds.
\nBut even if you weren’t able to do that, being alerted to Perplexity so early on would have been a huge SEO opportunity. Content like reviews, feature comparisons, and walkthroughs was an open goal if you knew about the trend.
\nToday, Perplexity gets 17.1M monthly searches globally. Back in December 2022, that number was 21.4K (and just 4.4K in the US).
\n70% of US homes either own an air fryer or intend to get one in the next year. It is increasingly ubiquitous in the American kitchen.
\nAnd there are now 3M+ more “air fryer” searches compared to when we first surfaced the trend in mid-2019 (before the pandemic sent searches spiraling).
\nEven back then, it was becoming a high-volume trend, and you might not have been able to start a ground-up kitchen electronics brand in time to beat the hype. But there were plenty of opportunities beyond just trying to sell air fryers:
\nThe best part? Exploding Topics actually helps you find these secondary trends.
\nE-commerce trends get their own “product” page, where you can see average revenue, price, monthly sales, and Amazon best seller rank. But what you can also do is browse top sellers, related products, and related trends.
\nLooking at air fryers, the “related products” tab shows you that mini air fryers, digital air fryers, AI air fryers, and oven air fryers are all currently trending upward. As an inventory manager or manufacturer, this is invaluable information.
\nAnd the “related trends” tab flags up specific long-tail opportunities like “air fryer corn on the cob” and “air fryer dehydrator.”
\nSo when you find the next big trend with Exploding Topics, you won’t just be working with a single insight. You’ll have a ready-made plan on how to dominate the entire ecosystem.
\n[cta:keywords]
\nI’ve arguably saved the best until last with VEED. The video editing platform doesn’t get the same raw volumes as air fryers, Perplexity, or pickleball, but the multiplier compared to when Exploding Topics first discovered it is off the charts.
\nHere’s the standout: $1M ARR when we first mentioned it in our newsletter in December 2020. $40M+ ARR today.
\nVEED was in the Exploding Topics database (and being specifically signposted to subscribers) while it was still bootstrapped. It was over a year before the first outside funding came in: a $35M investment from Sequoia.
\nBack when Exploding Topics first featured it, search volume was 8K per month. It’s now above 200K, and peaked as high as 400K last September.
\nIf nothing else, you could have benefited from being an early user of the toolkit. Clearly, VEED has proved its worth in the video generation market.
\nBut there were other opportunities too: YouTube tutorials, potential affiliate partnerships, perhaps even the chance to invest.
\nAnd instead of needing to know exactly what to look for (like with a tool such as Google Trends), Exploding Topics made it impossible for you to miss it.
\nNow you should have a better idea of the kind of advantage you get from Exploding Topics.
\nAnd it’s important to remember that these are just some of the more striking examples. You’ll get just as much value (if not more) from being reliably early to slightly smaller, less eye-catching trends.
\nYou can get 8 of these insights per week sent straight to your inbox, curated by our trends experts. And you can search the full database for yourself to find the rising trends specific to your niche.
\nIf you’re an SEO professional, E-commerce store owner, or early-stage investor, Exploding Topics is an invaluable trend discovery tool for you. Sign up today for your free trial.
","summary":"At times, trend tracking can feel intangible. You know it’s important to stay on top of consumer patterns, but it’s difficult to visualize the direct effect it’s going to have on your business. Understandably, you don’t want to make an investment in a trend-spotting tool like Exploding Topics until you’re ...","seo_title":"6 Trends Exploding Topics Found Super Early (+ How You Can Too)","meta_description":"Six trends Exploding Topics identified before mainstream coverage: from beauty products to B2B SaaS. See the proof and learn how to spot the next big thing.","featured_image_alt":"Trends Found Early Blog Post Image","url":"https://explodingtopics.com/blog/trends-found-early","featured_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/output=f:webp/32HvSGyxS8iOXQ7j4tRX","author":{"bio":"James is a Journalist at Exploding Topics. \r\n\r\nAfter graduating from the University of Oxford with a degree in Law, he completed a Diploma in Journalism through Press Association Training. He won the Premier League award for the best sports exam script. \r\n\r\nNow in his second spell with Exploding Topics, following three years covering Liverpool Football Club, James has a keen interest in the latest trends. He has been published in areas from AI to the commerce industry, with bylines including The Independent.","slug":"james-martin","email":"jamescmartin98@gmail.com","title":"Research Journalist","last_name":"Martin","first_name":"James","facebook_url":"","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-martin-117bb8171/","instagram_url":"","pinterest_url":"","profile_image":"https://cdn.buttercms.com/GCm7FjDRlG3oU5UIrwjw","twitter_handle":"@JamesMartin013"},"tags":[],"categories":[{"name":"market-research","slug":"market-research"}]}]}![\"Code](\"https://cdn.buttercms.com/94rxel5Rre7HyFC5XxNA\")
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