follow vs follow in the footsteps of

follow

noun
  • In billiards and similar games, a stroke causing a ball to follow another ball after hitting it. 

  • The act of following another user's online activity. 

verb
  • To walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling. 

  • To understand, to pay attention to. 

  • To subscribe to see content from an account on a social media platform. 

  • To live one's life according to (religion, teachings, etc). 

  • To carry out (orders, instructions, etc.). 

  • To be a logical consequence of something. 

  • To watch, to keep track of (reports of) some event or person. 

  • To go or come after in a sequence. 

  • To go after; to pursue; to move behind in the same path or direction, especially with the intent of catching. 

follow in the footsteps of

How often have the words follow and follow in the footsteps of occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )