Google Trends Shows Popularity of Keywords

I recently came across a new feature on Google called Google Trends. Google Trends lets you put in two or more search queries or keywords, and then shows you a graph over the popularity of what you put in. You will also be able to see how popular the keywords were over different time periods, and where in the world most people search for it.

This tool is both interesting and useful. If you want to see how two political figures are doing in the public eye i.e. how much interest people have of them, you can put in their names and read the results.

So if you are curious about how Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are doing on Google searches, you can use Google Trends. Put down their names separated with a comma and in a matter of seconds you'll get a graph ranging from 2004. For Barack Obama there was not surprisingly a high increase in searches in 2004 and the beginning of 2007. Hillary Clinton is generally more popular on Google, but with Barack Obama's high peaks it evens out. Most searches are done in Washington D.C., where Hillary Clinton wins the "search battle". Barack Obama is the most searched for of the two in Chicago, Illinois.

How can this be useful? If I were to write an article on Barack Obama, I would immediately see that something important happened in 2004 and 2007. I would research and find out that in 2004 he won the Illinois Senate race, and that he now is in the Presidential Candidate Campaign. I would be sure to find out what draws people from Chicago to search for him, making sure I don't miss anything major.

You can also pick which region you want to display results from, and which time period.

This feature can also be used in connection to web publishing. If you have the choice between a couple of keywords, and want to use the most searched for then Google Trends will let you know. This is completely free to use, and is great in determining internet trends.

This is a relatively new feature, and Google is claiming to update Google Trends on a daily basis. A few months back bloggers were reporting post about Google being slow in their updates, which apparently got Google to put more focus on daily updates.

Here's the link to Google Trends.