I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who wasted several hours with “Google Trends”:http://www.google.com/trends last week. The newest tool released by the search giant has been the buzz around the net lately by providing search term popularity trends since 2004 (with the ability to compare terms on one graph). As Google’s incredibly huge bank of knowledge continues to grow they are finally starting to drop the “general public” hints as to the magnitude of data that they possess. The release of this tool comes on the heels of a re-vamp of their “keyword suggestion tool”:https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal, which now offers *far more information* regarding search volume, estimated cost and yearly search trends per keyword.
I admit, my first session with the tool led to the inevitable “coke, pepsi”:http://www.google.com/trends?q=coke%2C+pepsi searches, followed by “molson, labatt”:http://www.google.com/trends?q=molson%2C+labatt&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all and then the all important question “pamela anderson, jessica alba”:http://www.google.com/trends?q=pamela+anderson%2C+jessica+alba&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all). After getting the gratuitous curiosity searches out of my system, I moved on to some industry-specific branded terms and began to understand the true importance that this tool holds for search marketers such as myself.