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InLinks vs Exploding Topics
InLinks is a semantic SEO platform with a Market Trends feature bolted on, so trends are one view inside a tool built for entities, internal linking, and schema. Exploding Topics is built for trend research from the ground up, which shows in how much of each industry you can actually browse.
Exploding Topics
- Over 65 industries to browse, with millions of total topics
- Trend research is the product, not a side feature
- Forecasts, seasonality, social channel breakdowns, products, and startups
Start a 7-day free trial of Exploding Topics Pro
InLinks
- - 15 categories, and far fewer topics in each
- - Trend views sit behind the agency tier of an SEO tool
- - Trend detail stops at popularity change, volume, and related topics
Exploding Topics Pro is trusted by 1,200+ teams worldwide.
Topic and entity data
A trend platform next to an SEO platform
Database breadth
More of every industry to look at
Exploding Topics organizes over one million topics into more than 65 industries. If you want to browse technology topics, you'll find over 209,000 of them in the Exploding Topics database, versus 2,467 on InLinks. It's the same story in other categories. So Exploding Topics has a convincing advantage if your research starts with browsing rather than a keyword.
Trend detail
What you get once you open a trend
Each Exploding Topics trend shows search volume, up to 15 years of history, a forecast for the year ahead, seasonality signals, and a breakdown of which social channels are carrying the conversation. You can also access revenue, funding, valuation, and headcount data through the Trending Products and Trending Startups features. InLinks trends only show total search volumes, weekly and monthly changes, and related topics and questions.
Where InLinks leads
Entity SEO, internal links, and schema
InLinks maps a site to entities (people, brands, etc.) rather than keywords, then acts on that map: automated internal linking, entity-based schema markup, content briefs scored on entity coverage, and a topic planner for content gaps. Deployment runs through a JavaScript snippet, so nothing needs changing in the CMS. As a more focused trends tool, Exploding Topics does not cover this kind of technical on-page work.
At a glance
InLinks vs Exploding Topics
InLinks
Trend Tool
Exploding Topics
★ Our pick
Primary purpose
Entity SEO and internal linking
Trend discovery and market research
Industry categories
15
65+
Technology topics
2,467
214,614
Trend detail
Popularity change, total volume, related topics and questions
Volume, growth charts, forecasts, seasonality, channel breakdowns
Data sources
Scraped Google results
Search engines, social media, forums, media outlets, blogs, podcasts
Starting price
$49/mo
$39/mo
Paid plans
$49 / $196 per month, quote-only for enterprise
$39 / $99 / $249 per month
Free plan / trial
Free plan, no trial (can request first-month refund)
Free plan, 7-day free trial
How We Find Trends
We track topics across the internet to identify under-the-radar trends before they go mainstream.
Analyze
Our trend identification process begins with a comprehensive data collection from a variety of online sources.
- Social media platforms
- Search engines
- Online forums and communities
- News articles and blogs
- E-commerce websites
- Podcasts
Identify
Our proprietary machine learning models are designed to detect the absolute earliest signs of an emerging trend.
- Analyze historical data to identify growth patterns
- Predict future trends based on current data trajectories
- Detect sudden spikes in interest or activity around specific topics
Curate
While our algorithms are powerful, human expertise is crucial for contextual understanding, ensuring quality topics.
- Review the top-scoring trends identified by our models
- Validate the authenticity and relevance of these trends
- Filter out fads (movies, TV shows, celebrity gossip, etc.)
- Provide qualitative insights to complement quantitative data
FAQ
Everything you need to know about using our features and getting the most out of them.
What is InLinks?
InLinks is a semantic SEO platform that maps your site to entities and topics, then automates internal linking and schema markup. Its Market Trends feature lets you browse popular topics by category.
Is InLinks free?
InLinks has a free plan covering a couple of content optimizations a month, a small number of internally linked pages, and one trends category. You need to be on the agency tier (from $196/mo) for unlimited topic trends data. There is no free trial of the paid tiers, but if you sign up and attend a product demo then you can request a refund after a month.
How much does InLinks cost?
InLinks costs from $49/mo for the entry tier and $196/mo for the tier that includes unlimited topic trends data and API access. Enterprise pricing is quote-only.
How much does Exploding Topics cost?
Exploding Topics Pro is priced at $39, $99, and $249 per month, with the entry Entrepreneur plan starting at $39/mo. There is also a limited free plan that covers basic site access and the newsletter.
Does Exploding Topics have a free trial?
Yes, Exploding Topics Pro includes a 7-day free trial, and a limited free plan is available alongside it.
Does Exploding Topics or InLinks show more trending topics?
Exploding Topics shows considerably more trending topics than InLinks: over 65 industry categories versus 15, with tens of thousands more trends in each category.
Inlinks Market Trends vs. Exploding Topics: Which is Best?
Add Exploding Topics on GoogleAdd Exploding Topics as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.Understanding the trends that are shaping your industry is useful whether you're trying to develop new products, launch an e-commerce store, build topical authority, or create content.
Inlinks Market Trends and Exploding Topics are two tools that allow you to search industry topics and view associated data like search volume, trend popularity, and related topics. But the two apps are quite different — this guide will walk through what you need to know about both platforms so you can make the right decision for your budget and projects.
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What is Inlinks Market Trends?
Inlinks is a semantic search engine optimization (SEO) tool that helps marketers identify what entities, or topics, their websites are associated with. You can also use the tool to help generate schema for your webpages — a functionality that's useful for SEO.
The platform's Market Trends feature is yet another way to access the platform's topic data, but presented in a way that's likely to be more useful to non-SEO professionals. When using Market Trends, you can browse popular topics in different industries, see related questions, and evaluate search volume for different topics.
Where Does Inlinks' Data Come From?
Inlinks Market Trends appears to use data similar to that found in Google Trends — and the company gets its SEO information via scraping Google search engine results pages (SERPs), too.
How Much Does Inlinks Market Trends Cost?
Inlinks' Market Trends data is available to subscribers with an Agency or Enterprise plan; pricing starts at $196 per month. This price also gives you access to other Inlinks SEO features including content optimization tools, API access, and unlimited user seats.
What is Exploding Topics?
Exploding Topics is a tool for spotting and tracking emerging trends. The platform is entirely trend-focused (unlike Inlinks' primary focus on SEO). The Exploding Topics platform is useful for:
- E-commerce product development and marketing
- General digital marketing across B2B and B2C industries
- Startup research
- Amazon pricing strategy planning
- TikTok trend discovery
You can choose to browse the Exploding Topics database on your own or read trend reports that feature in-depth, expert analysis of the topics you should know about right now.
Where Does Exploding Topics Data Come From?
Exploding Topics gets its data points from a wide range of sources, including:
- Online forums
- Blogs
- News outlets
- Social media platforms
The company uses a mix of machine learning (to gather and initially sort data) and human expertise (to confirm and refine) to prepare its trend database and reports.
How Much Does Exploding Topics Cost?
Exploding Topics is free to use, but you'll be limited to basic trend information. An Exploding Topics Pro subscription gives you access to more in-depth data, trend forecasts, additional expert reports, product lists, and more. Paid plans start at $39 per month when billed annually.
Which Platform Shows You More Trending Topics?
Exploding Topics has a larger trend database than Inlinks Market Trends. For example, Inlinks offers access to 975 marketing industry topics, while Exploding Topics has data on over 36,000 marketing trends.
Exploding Topics offers more trend data across other industries, too. The following table shows how the two platforms' topic counts differ across select industries at the time of writing:
| Exploding Topics | Inlinks Market Trends | |
| Technology | 209,610 | 2,467 |
| Clothing | 25,854 | 791 |
| Automotive | 17,626 | 4,213 |
| Health / Wellness / Personal Care | 297,311 | 9,261 |
| Games | 7,245 | 1,090 |
Exploding Topics also offers more industry categories to review than Inlinks Market Trends. The Exploding Topics database organizes topics into over 65 industries, while Inlinks offers 12 categories.
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What Data Can You See Using Inlinks Market Trends and Exploding Topics?
Clicking on a trend within a category gives you different information on each platform, too.
How Inlinks Presents Search Trends
Inlinks' trend features are limited. (The app's features are mostly focused on SEO tools and techniques.) When you look up a trend in the Inlinks database, you'll see information including:
- Trend popularity changes over a month and a week
- Total search volume for the trend
- Related topics
You can also see search questions related to each trend, which is useful for content creation purposes.
Tip: If you're interested in Inlinks' SEO features, but like the breadth of the Exploding Topics database, give Semrush One a try. Exploding Topics works as an app inside of Semrush, so you can easily add on Semrush's SEO toolkits and see keyword data, questions, AI search data, competitor names, and more.
How Exploding Topics Displays Trend Metrics
Every Exploding Topics trend detail page includes information about:
- Total search volume
- Change in search volume over time
- What the topic means or relates to
- Which social media channels are popular discussion spots for this topic
- Whether the trend is growing or slowing down
- Trend seasonality, volatility, and sentiment
- Future trend fluctuation forecasts
- Related trends
You aren't limited to the trend database, either. With an Exploding Topics Pro plan, you can also:
- Browse top TikTok trends
- Review Amazon product pricing and trends
- Explore meta trends reports to see how trends connect to each other
- Read past trend reports prepared by Exploding Topics' team of experts
When to Use Inlinks Market Trends vs. Exploding Topics
| If you want to... | Then try using this research tool... |
| Improve your website schema and links automatically while conducting limited trend research | Inlinks |
| View lists of search questions related to specific trends | Inlinks |
| Browse extensive trend databases across multiple industries | Exploding Topics |
| Explore connections between new trends | Exploding Topics |
| View current trends on TikTok | Exploding Topics |
| Develop new product ideas based on existing product trends | Exploding Topics |
| Read trend analysis and reports prepared by experts | Exploding Topics |
| Track trend performance across different social channels | Exploding Topics |
| See how interest in a trend is expected to change over the coming year | Exploding Topics |
| Analyze competitors and see how they're responding to specific trends | Exploding Topics + Semrush One |
| View related keywords and difficulty (not just changes in trend interest) | Exploding Topics + Semrush One |
My verdict: Most people will get the biggest benefit out of using Exploding Topics for trend spotting. While Inlinks' Market Trends feature is a nice add-on for people who primarily need Inlinks' other SEO features, their database simply isn't as large as what Exploding Topics offers. I have personally tried paid versions of both Inlinks and Exploding Topics over the past few years, and I decided to stick with Exploding Topics (plus Semrush for my SEO data needs).
You can give my setup a try, too. Sign up for a free seven-day trial of Semrush One, then add on seven days of Exploding Topics Pro for free, too. This is the easiest way to explore the information that you can get from these two tools combined — and see how well it can support your work!
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Exploding Topics is owned by Semrush. Our mission is to provide accurate data and expert insights on emerging trends. Unless otherwise noted, this page’s content was written by either an employee or a paid contractor of Semrush Inc.
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Written By
Emily is a freelance content writer at Exploding Topics. A former news correspondent, she has over 15 years' experience creati... Read more