Google Trends 2.0 – New Keyword Research Weapon? Discover My Killer Insights
June 11, 2008 - Written by Gyutae Park
Using Google Trends has always been a good way to stay on top of buzz keywords and to monitor trends for a single keyword over time. However, one of the biggest qualms about the service was the inability to determine absolute or even relative search frequency between different keywords. Fortunately, that’s changed with the latest update from Google.
Google Trends now enables us to view the relative search frequency between different keywords. From an SEO standpoint, this is significant because we were previously unable to attain Google search data unless engaging in extensive (and expensive) paid search campaigns. The tool does not give us exact search figures, but relative search frequency is good enough to help us with our keyword research. Some of the other keyword stemming tools like Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery, and Wordze are useful for generating new keywords ideas but are generally very inaccurate. Data straight from the global database of Google ensures that the information is more accurate and less prone to error and fluctuations.
While the new Google Trends does prove to be a valuable keyword research tool, it is still very limited in that it does not provide an actual number for search frequency. Because of this, it is difficult to assess the value of long-tail keywords that you may be interested in. Also, you can only research one set of 4 keywords at a time and the tool does not generate keyword suggestions.
Despite the limitations, I plan on using Google Trends more frequently to perform top-level research for keyword trends in niches I’m interested in creating sites for. We can’t expect Google to make it too easy for us, now can we? 
Below are some example screen shots of queries I ran in Google Trends. The findings are actually very interesting…
First, let’s compare some of the most popular keywords in the Internet marketing niche for this blog. As you can see, ‘internet marketing’ has twice as much search frequency as ‘make money online’ and 4 times as much as ‘social media’.
Next, let’s compare how often the top bloggers in the niche are searched for compared to the popular term ‘make money online’. Dosh Dosh is way in the lead, followed by John Chow, Problogger, and Shoemoney. Copycat John Cow really lucks out because he ranks #1 in Google for John Chow’s name.
Over the past year or so, there have been a large number of newbie bloggers starting up sites in the ‘make money online’ niche. This is mainly because many of the top bloggers advertise their earnings and success. However, if you look at the chart above, industries like weight loss, computers, and finance have a lot more potential and demand. In fact, ‘make money online’ only has 4% the searches of ‘laptops’.
Yahoo is still the most visited web property on the Internet, with Google closely catching up. Ironically, people search for ‘google’ on Google. Check out the growth of YouTube. In just 2 years, it has nearly double the search frequency of Yahoo.
Social networking? MySpace has been king for the past 3 years, but was recently overcome by the surging success of Facebook.
Here’s a fun one… Britney Spears is the top searched celebrity online, even when compared to super stars like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. News of Heath Ledger’s death led to a big rush of searches for the actor’s name earlier this year.
Is Michael Jordan still the greatest basketball player of all time? Kobe Bryant and Lebron James are often compared to the hall of famer, but they still lag behind in… search frequency.
Google Trends offers some very fun and interesting insights into various industries. More importantly, you may be able to use the tool to improve your keyword research and optimize your sites for increased search traffic.
Do you plan on incorporating Google Trends into your keyword research strategy? What other keyword trends can you find? Check it out and let us know in a comment below.
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Interestingly, compare “seo” with “search engine optimization”. SEO trends up, and the latter trends down. Apparently there’s a sport’s player named “Seo”.
I guess it would be a good idea to research other meanings of the same word before starting any campaigns on the info. Really great tool. Cool post Gyutae.
Am I the only one who finds it strange that “search engine optimization” and “internet marketing” are trending down, while “make money online” trends up?
Sorry to double post Gyutae, but I don’t think my sports player theory is accurate with the word “seo”. I saw mostly articles about the baseball player in Google trends but his full name search isn’t even close to “seo”.
I don’t know why it trends differently then the spelled out version.
Hey Joe,
Seo is actually a very common Korean name (including the baseball player’s name). Since Google Trends pulls data from all countries, I think this is what is skewing the data.
Oh. I’m a genius (slapping forehead).
Very valuable info here, thanks for your insights. I think it’s funny to see the weight loss trends drop off to nothing at the end of the year and then skyrocket near Jan 1. I’m already working in that space.
Haha, really no surprise there. I like how ‘weight loss’ peaks up for new year’s resolutions, trends down and stabilizes for the summer season, then spikes down with the onset of winter. Oh so predictable. Do you see this trend in your analytics as well?
I was not aware that Google provided this service. This could come in handy to allow me to see what niche I might want to target in the future. I’ve never heard of anyone compare Kobe and Lebron to MJ, pretty good players, but nothing like MJ. Interesting how MJ still receives so much attention.
Check out a search for ‘wisdom teeth’. Definitely some interesting trends there that you can use for your site.
As for MJ, it’s really amazing how he’s so popular even after retirement.
I have looked at this tool for sometime but really tried to work out how I can use it for. Your insight into the search tool is fantastic, cheers for sharing.
Yeah people are saying its better than alexa because google toolbar is used more than any other toolbar.
Thanks for the heads up. I didn’t even know this service existed.