Tracking Trends with Google


When you want to know what the world is searching for, check out Google Trends. Point your browser to www.google.com/trends and get ready to say, “WOW.” This lesser-known Google tool is not technically an Enterprise tool, because there is no installation or specific Enterprise control. But, as a business tool for your enterprise, it is indispensable. Figure 37.1 shows you the trend for searches on the keyword forensics. The trend shows a gradual decline in searches on this term since its peak in 2004. This could be due to the popularity of the TV show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Interestingly, checking trends for searches on the keyword csi shows a low in early 2004 and a slight increase into 2005 and holding stable in 2006. Who would have known?

image from book
Figure 37.1: Track trends for keyword terms, and compare them to news stories.

Directly below the chart is a smaller graph showing the frequency with which the search terms appeared in news articles for the same period. This gives you an idea of public interest and searching patterns compared to the amount of press the topic was receiving. The two graphs do not always correspond with one another. You can have fun figuring out why.

Below the chart is a tabbed display showing the top cities where Google searches were initiated on the keyword you typed into the Trends search box. See a bar chart comparing search volume in the top cities.

Launch the Regions tab by clicking the Regions link. This displays search volume in the top ten regions. Click the Languages link to see search volumes by language. It is likely that there will be fewer than ten languages listed.

Notice that the charts are often marked with small lettered boxes. These correspond to news events on specific days. See the corresponding news event marked with the same letter on the right. Click the news story to read it.

Advanced trending

Create comparison trends by typing more than one keyword into the search box, separated by commas. You can type up to a maximum of five terms. To type phrases, don’t put them in quotes, as in other search boxes. Instead, enclose the phrases in parentheses like this (my search phrase). Clicking Search Trends creates a new chart, displaying each trend in a different color. A color key appears above the chart making it easy to see which line belongs to which keyword.

You can exclude searches that contain certain terms from the volume calculations by including the term you want excluded, preceded with a minus () sign. For example, the term google earth shows search volumes for Google, but not for Google Earth.

To maintain the order of your search terms, enclose them in quotes. This restricts results to searches that were done with terms in the same order as you typed them.

Note 

When using any advanced search features, only the volume graph is shown. No news is included.

You can expand the scope of your search by typing multiple keywords separated with the pipe | symbol, normally located over the Enter key. The | symbol means “or.” This comparison allows you to see results based on searches that contain either one search term or the other, expanding the potential number of searches in your search.

Further customize your trend by selecting a particular region for your search. By default, All Regions is displayed. Choose a new region (actually a specific country) from the drop-down list above and to the right of the chart.

Select a time period for your chart by clicking the drop-down list on the far right above the chart. By default, charts display all time periods beginning in 2004. Notice that the trend becomes more detailed as you track trends across individual years and months. This may be useful in plotting the sale of stocks and securities based on specific news stories.

Using trend data

The trend data is an approximation, not exact numbers. Google uses the term propensity to describe what the data describes. This is most likely the reason that the y-axis of the chart never has exact numbers. Comparison charts, for example, show relationships in trends and never exact value differences. Users show a propensity to search on a particular term differently over time. That’s what these charts show.

Note 

The data is aggregated from millions of searches with no personal information included, so your private information is safe.

You can use the Google Trends data and chart images freely as long as you properly attribute Google when you do. You may want to join the others interested in Google Trends data in the Google Labs Trends group at groups.google.com/group/Google-Labs-Trends.



Google Power Tools Bible
Google Power Tools Bible
ISBN: 0470097124
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 353

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