I was just scanning my Google Friends Newsletter and found an interesting new tool in Google Labs. Google Trends allows you to see "what the world is searching for" on Google. Actually, the tool shows you not only what the world is looking for, but also allows you to drill-down further and see what a country or in some cases, even a city is searching for. For business owners, especially those with an on-line presence, the best feature is the ability to compare up to five words or phrases to see which ones are searched for most often on Google.
Let's use a simple Google Trend example from my wife's favorite show - American Idol. The chart in this example shows some interesting information from the contest in 2005. First, you'll note that the search volume in the United States was fairly similar for both Carrie and Bo through the 3rd quarter of 2005 - with Carrie holding a slight lead. You'll note a huge peak in search volume for both contestants in the middle of the 2nd quarter when the 2005 finals of American Idol took place.
After the finals, when they toured with all the American Idol finalists, the search volume was fairly close with Carrie holding a slight edge. At the beginning of 3rd quarter, however, the search volume for Carrie Underwood increased significantly and Bo's search volume stayed relatively flat. I'm no Idol expert, but my guess is 3rd quarter is when Carrie released her CD.
Another interesting element you'll find with the Google Trends chart is the search volume by cities. This chart shows the top ten cities by search volume. The largest search volume for the top three cities came from Leeds, AL, Birmingham, AL, and Huntsville, AL. In these three cities, Bo Bice's name was searched for two to three times as often as Carrie Underwood. Why? Because Bo is from Alabama!
In the next seven cities listed, Carrie had search volume at least twice that of Bo. This was probably a good indicator of why she won the contest.
Google Trends is still in beta and provides limited functionality. However, this new tool provides data that is not available anywhere else - real search data trends from Google. Since Google represents over 42% of total search engine volume, it may be worth your time to experiment with the tool for keywords and search terms potential customers use to learn about your products or services or find your business on-line.
I'll discuss how you can use Google Trends to improve your business in my next post...
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