Alexis Kestler
Staying on top of trending topics is crucial for content creators and marketers who want to drive more traffic, engagement, and search visibility.
According to one report, web traffic from trending content triples on average compared to non-trending content. But with trends changing so rapidly online, how can you keep up?
That‘s where trend tracking platforms come in handy. Rather than manually searching social media and news sites, you can use these handy tools to bubble up the most talked-about and engaging topics across the web.
In this post, we‘ll explore 12 of the top platforms for uncovering viral trends and evergreen topics so you can stay on the pulse and create content that resonates.
Why Finding Trending Topics Matters
Before diving into the platforms, let‘s look at why tracking trends should be part of your content promotion strategy:
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Increased website traffic. Trending content attracts more visitors because it‘s timely and captivates reader interest. One study by Buzzsumo found viral content receives over 3 times more traffic on average.
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Higher engagement. Trending topics tend to spark discussion and debate, leading to more comments, shares, and backlinks. This signals to search engines that the content offers value.
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Search visibility. Content based on trending searches can often rank faster since it matches user intent. But you need to identify rising topics early before competition builds up.
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Thought leadership. Creating content around timely trends demonstrates you understand issues impacting your industry and audience. This builds brand authority.
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Evergreen potential. Some trending topics have longevity if the issue remains relevant over time. Evergreen content continues bringing in traffic for months or years.
Now let‘s explore the top trend tracking platforms to start boosting your content.
1. BuzzSumo
With over 1 billion content searches each year, BuzzSumo is a heavyweight for uncovering viral topics and influencers.
After entering any topic or domain, it analyzes search volume and social shares to surface the most popular content. You can also filter by content type, date range, country, and other criteria.
For example, I searched for "email marketing", filtered for the past year, and sorted by Facebook interactions. The tool revealed viral posts like:
- 5 Email Marketing Trends To Follow in 2025 (over 5k Facebook shares)
- How to Write Emails That Don‘t Get Ignored (over 3.1k shares)
This not only uncovers trending topics but also shows the type of content that resonates with your audience.
You can also see the top domains and authors creating engaging content so you can connect with influencers in your space.
The free plan only lets you run 2 searches per day, so you may need a Pro account. But it‘s worth exploring as a powerful viral content discovery tool.
2. TrendSpottr
While BuzzSumo focuses on historical trends, TrendSpottr finds rising topics in real-time across the web.
It constantly analyzes news sites, blogs, forums, and social networks to bubble up emerging trends. You can also see phrases and hashtags spiking in search volume.
The "Emerging Now" section shows topics gaining momentum in the last 2 hours. This helps you jump on viral stories as they unfold, whether it‘s Will Smith slapping Chris Rock or Elon Musk buying Twitter.
You can also filter trends by location, language, social volume, news volume, and more. So it‘s easy to uncover localized trends important for your audience.
TrendSpottr offers a free plan with limited searches or paid plans starting at $29/month for unlimited access. It‘s worth checking regularly to identify rising trends before competitors.
3. Google Trends
As one of the largest search engines, Google has a wealth of trend data at its fingertips.
Google Trends showcases the top trending searches on Google and most notable changes in search frequency. You can see charts of search volume over time for any term or topic.
This reveals seasonal trends that spike during certain times of year. For example, searches for "tax software" peak from January to April.
You can also filter trends by location, time period, and category. So you can zero in on trends relevant to your niche and audience.
While Google Trends focuses strictly on search volume, this still provides valuable insights into rising topics. Pair it with social listening data for a fuller picture.
Best of all – Google Trends is 100% free!
4. BuzzStream
BuzzStream takes a unique approach by analyzing trends in link building outreach.
It tracks which topics are gaining the most website backlinks across the web. This reveals what content is resonating enough that others want to reference it.
For example, their latest link trends report shows topics like:
- Remote Work Burnout +216%
- Gas Prices +158%
- Cryptocurrency Regulation +94%
You can filter link trends by industry, location, and source (news, blogs, discussions).
Backlinks require more effort than social shares, so they signal strong interest in a topic. Pay attention to rising link trends to create content that gets referenced often.
BuzzStream offers a free 14-day trial. The Pro plan costs $50/month and adds features like outreach templates.
5. Reddit
With over 52 million daily active users, Reddit is a premiere social platform to discover emerging and viral topics.
The front page aggregates the most upvoted and discussed posts across thousands of subreddits. This shows what‘s trending among various communities.
You can also browse individual subreddits related to your niche like r/socialmedia, r/seo, or r/contentmarketing. Sort posts by "Hot" to see trending discussions.
Or check dedicated subreddits like r/TrendingReddits and r/Trending to discover rising topics across Reddit.
Reddit moves fast so you‘ll want tools like RedditRec to track keywords and notify you of trending posts.
But browsing subreddits manually provides a real feel for which discussions are resonating. And it‘s 100% free!
6. Twitter
Track hashtag usage on Twitter to find out what‘s trending in real-time.
The Trending section showcases the most viral hashtags and stories over the last 24 hours. You can tailor this to your country or a specific category.
Click into a trending hashtag to see all the related discussions. This helps uncover popular tweets, images, and sentiment to inform content creation.
Third-party tools like RiteTag and Trendsmap also visualize hashtag popularity so you can identify rising trends.
You can save searches on Twitter for key industry terms and receive notifications when those topics trend.
7. TikTok
Don‘t overlook the explosively growing platform TikTok as a goldmine for viral content ideas.
The Trending section displays the most popular hashtag challenges, dances, songs, creators, and videos.
TikTok progresses extremely quickly, so monitoring trending hashtag views shows which topics are heating up in real-time.
You can also find niche trends by searching related keywords and sorting videos by engagement. Look for challenges and meme formats taking off in your industry.
Tools like PopTents surface the fastest growing TikTok niches to capitalize on.
Pay attention to youth-driven trends here that may cross over to mainstream social media and search.
8. Treendly
If you need one simple dashboard to monitor trends across the web, check out Treendly.
It tracks trending topics and search volume from Google Trends, YouTube, Reddit, Quora, news sites and more.
You can easily compare trends between different countries, languages, and platforms.
Click a trending topic to see an analysis of its growth over time and related keywords. This helps assess if it has staying power or is just a short-term fad.
Treendly offers a free 15-day trial then pricing from $15-$60 per month. It provides an all-in-one snapshot of trending data to inform your strategy.
9. BuzzSumo YouTube Trends
We‘ve already covered BuzzSumo for viral content discovery, but it also has a dedicated YouTube module.
This lets you research the most popular YouTube videos by views, shares, and growth rate.
You can immediately see trending videos taking off around a topic. This is perfect for newsjacking timely stories with video content.
BuzzSumo‘s YouTube trends focus on rising videos rather than existing popular ones. So you can spot opportunities before competitors.
10. Popsters
Popsters is a highly-visual platform displaying the latest pop culture, entertainment, and meme trends.
The dashboard aggregates viral topics across TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Twitch and more.
Click into any box to drill down into the top videos, images, and posts around that trend. This provides inspiration for fun, timely content.
You can also search for any pop culture topic to see related trends and discussions.
While Popsters won‘t necessarily reveal hard-hitting news, it‘s fantastic for identifying viral meme content themes. This helps creative brands join the conversation.
Pricing starts at $20/month for more search features and filters.
11. UberSuggest
UberSuggest by Neil Patel helps uncover search trends people are interested in.
Unlike Google Trends which shows search volume, UberSuggest predicts rising keyword searches.
It automatically generates related long-tail keyword ideas that you can sort by difficulty level and search volume. Traffic light colors help pinpoint low competition keywords trending up.
Check search suggestions for your brand name, products, and other relevant seed keywords. This reveals new topic angles with search demand.
UberSuggest is free with paid plans adding features like rankings data starting at $99/month.
12. AnswerThePublic
Founded by content expert Brian Dean, Answer the Public displays search autocomplete results across Google and YouTube.
These are questions people are actively asking right now – so perfect for creating content that solves these needs.
You‘ll get search suggestions for your topic across different formats like:
- What is…
- How to…
- Should I…
- Can I….
Look for question formats with high search volume but low ranking difficulty and competition.
Answer the Public is free with a Pro plan ($29/month) adding graphics, Excel exports, and more.
Turn Trending Topics into Content
Tracking trending topics across these platforms helps you stay on the pulse of rising trends. But you need a strategy to actually turn them into content.
Here are a few quick tips:
- Check for trends daily or weekly to spot new opportunities
- Look for topics gaining sustained interest, not just one-day fads
- Identify search and social volume to assess interest
- Brainstorm titles, angles, and formats to create engaging content
- Repurpose evergreen content around long-term trends
- Use data like search volume to optimize content for SEO
Curating content around trends demonstrates your ability to provide timely value. But also balance evergreen articles optimized for keywords so you have a diverse content portfolio.
Ready to start putting these trend tracking tools to work? Let me know in the comments if you have any other go-to platforms for identifying viral trending topics!
