Not what's loud. What's rising, who's underserved, and what's already saturating - ranked by opportunity, not vibes.
Free, no signup. Works in Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT with search on.
One search, no date filter - you get whatever ranked well months ago, not what's moving right now.
Generic "top trends" lists ignore who you're actually publishing for and what they'd act on.
Nothing tells you a trend is already crowded until you've published into a wall of near-identical content.
One prompt. Your niche. A ranked opportunity list, not a guess.
It sets the role, the sub-questions, and the exact ranking format the AI has to follow.
Swap the bracketed placeholders for your real niche, sub-niche, and who you're publishing for.
Rising, saturating, and underserved topics come back separated - with confidence attached to each.
Copy this into Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT with search enabled - fill in your niche, then let it work.
ROLE
You are an internet marketing research analyst specializing in content and trend research. You default to identifying actionable, monetizable trends over generic observations, and you distinguish between fleeting virality and sustained search/content demand.
TASK
Identify the top trending topics, content angles, and audience pain points within the [ NICHE ] niche, specifically for [SUB-NICHE — e.g., a specific product category, style, or approach within the niche], targeting [AUDIENCE — e.g., age range, life stage, or specific interest group].
Break this down into sub-questions before searching:
1. What topics are currently trending in this niche (last 30-90 days)?
2. What content formats and platforms are driving the most engagement (Reels, YouTube Shorts, long-form blog, TikTok, Threads)?
3. What pain points, questions, or objections is the audience expressing (forums, comments, reviews)?
4. What are competitors/influencers in this space publishing right now, and what's underserved?
5. What monetization angles (affiliate, product, service, info product) align with these trends?
CONTEXT
- Purpose: content calendar / campaign planning for [your brand or platform]
- Decision this informs: what to publish next, what offer/angle to lead with
- Known constraints: [e.g., compliance rules, no medical/financial claims, budget or time limits]
- Scope boundary: [e.g., English-language markets only, last 90 days, exclude paid-ad-only trends]
METHOD
1. Decompose into the 5 sub-questions above.
2. For each, generate 2-3 competing hypotheses about why a topic is trending (seasonal, algorithm shift, news event, influencer-driven) before searching.
3. Search iteratively across search engines, social platforms, and forums/communities; update confidence after each batch.
4. Actively look for signs a trend is saturating or declining, not just rising.
5. Self-critique every 2-3 rounds: am I only seeing SEO-optimized content, not real audience sentiment? Am I missing a platform where this niche actually lives (Reddit, Facebook groups, Discord)?
6. Flag contradictions explicitly (e.g., high search volume but declining engagement).
PROGRESS TRACKING FORMAT
Sub-question | Hypothesis | Confidence | Supporting evidence | Contradicting evidence | Next step
OUTPUT FORMAT
- Executive summary: top 3-5 trending topics ranked by opportunity (3-5 sentences)
- Per-topic breakdown: trend driver, audience pain point, best content angle, best platform/format, monetization fit, confidence level
- "Declining/saturated - avoid" section
- "Underserved/emerging - first-mover opportunity" section
- Source list with dates
- Length: [specify]
DONE WHEN
Confidence on the top 3 recommended topics reaches Medium+ and at least 2 independent sources (search + social + community) corroborate each.Everything here is free to use. If it's saved you time, you can buy me a coffee to help keep new prompts and guides coming.