Using Google Trends, Hot Trends

May 22, 2007

Google has unveiled a new feature of their “Google Trends” software that will allow webmasters to cash in on search trends on a seemingly immediate basis.

Basically, Google has an algorhythym that removes factors such as the “always on top” keywords like “Myspace” and “Pamela Anderson” as well as editorializes risque adult topics to confine the results to one group of keywords: those seeing a strong enough surge in searches to be identified as a “trend”.  Google also has a running list of the 100 Hottest Trends as identified by their software.  So how does this help web developers?  Well if you can’t figure it out, you’ve got some serious issues.

Here are a few ways you can begin applying the Google Trends and Hot Trends information to your web endeavors:

  1. Use the Hot Trends to register new domain names based on popularity speculation.  Either plan on reselling or develop into a niche website.
  2. Scour the list daily, and if any keywords fall under the umbrella of a forum/blog/site that you have, immediately make a post and ping in hopes of capturing searches for the quickly growing keyword.
  3. Research the types of things people search for and HOW they search for them to better understand how to create and develop your PPC keyword lists.
  4. Use these “Hot Lists” to immediately start PPC campaigns using them, and driving them to related Affiliate offers.  You’ll likely get “in” before your competition and enjoy a relatively cheap cost per click until the others figure it out.
  5. When deciding what your back link anchor text should be, when link building, perhaps it would be a good idea to not only consider the “historical data” but also take into account the trend moving forward… so you’re on top of the link pile before others focus on a similar keyword.

Everyone is making a HUGE deal of this - probably mostly because it is Google.  In reality, this feature has existed for awhile.  Lycos has been running a list of it’s 50 hottest keywords each week that also includes a “biggest increases” and “biggest decreases” to show trends.  You can find the list at http://50.lycos.com.  But after sifting through google’s list I’m eager to see how powerful the tool is… it’s results seem to be a little bit more “different” and not quite as “obvious”.

For example, I would have expected both Lycos and Google to report the “David Hasselhoff Video” and “Jerry Falwell Funeral/Death” as top trends.  But, “NNN Realty Advisors”, a New York Stoch Exchange Comapny, was number 92 on the list at the time of this writing… why?  Trying to uncover the answers to that may lead us to some big opportunities.  The searches for these terms are likely coming in response to news on Wall Street or elsewhere… possibly an hourly trend that Lycos would never have the opportunity to dissect.

Another great feature of Google Trends is the ability to analyze the geographical data they supply.  For example, suppose you have a website that is based around the topic “weight loss”.  Let’s take a look at any trends for this term:Google Trends

The first thing we might notice is that, broken down by year there is a very obvious consistency.  The keyword skyrockets at the beginning of the year… HELLO New Year’s Resolutions.  It then gradually sags until the end of the year and the cycle starts again.  It appears that 2007 has not been as strong as 2006 for the term.

We then see several news events which may provide more insight… two of the most recent are “5 techie weight loss tools” and “implantable pacemaker”.  Off the top of my head I’m thinking the techie weight loss tools could be great link bait and affiliate opportunities and the implantable pacemaker sounds like a great news story to post to our weight loss blog.

It looks like “Baltimore, MD” is the top city for “weight loss” searches but the United States ranks only fifth as a country.  Actually, all 10 Top Cities are in the United States.  Perhaps we should geographically target these “fat areas” in our adwords campaign.   I can also see this being a TREMENDOUS opportunity to identify keywords and such for other languages and focusing campaigns on the Spanish language or others.

Below I have posted the Top 100 Trends as currently found on the Google Trends site:

1. stone phillips
2. dragon skin armor
3. joseph lau
4. kimberly buffington
5. yolanda king funeral
6. tessa horst
7. dallas cowboys new stadium
8. kenmore 16237
9. clinton portis
10. jerry falwell funeral
11. tanzania national park
12. noah maxin
13. michael moore sicko
14. john seigenthaler
15. bill vendall
16. super bowl 2011
17. howard porter
18. nba lottery
19. actress hagen
20. bevin powers
21. danny of radio days
22. singer ritter
23. paula abdul
24. andy and tessa
25. superbowl 2011
26. whosarat.com
27. andy baldwin
28. harry belafonte s daughter
29. kassie depaiva
30. yapta
31. mushrooms growing in a circle
32. ctmod
33. tmobile wing
34. ct mod
35. shavuot
36. nba draft
37. ag unit frames
38. 2004 world series champs
39. star in orion
40. d isere
41. orion s occupation
42. steve van zandt
43. japanese coin
44. paula abdul broken nose
45. writer leonard
46. the bachelor
47. gerund maker
48. yolanda king going home wake
49. druid epic flight form
50. cicada
51. actor novello
52. river of rouen
53. mia sardella
54. google hot trends
55. on the lot
56. cubemeister rubik
57. iron carbon alloy
58. malay archipelago sultanate
59. chicago bank robbery
60. what part of a graduate’s costume gave the cordon bleu cooking school its name
61. kimberly quaid
62. golfer mediate
63. actress patricia
64. nspd 51
65. helmet boxing
66. terre haute s river
67. for the boys
68. phillippi sparks
69. quixote s squire
70. interceptor armor
71. yapta.com
72. avandia
73. brazilian river
74. netherdrake quest
75. south american rodent
76. jeepers creepers
77. virgilian hero
78. sushi bar soup
79. cofounder of desilu
80. animal stomachs
81. jack carter
82. paper moon star
83. flexor muscle
84. second commandment
85. jack henry quaid
86. jill mcgill
87. city in yemen
88. ross or bering
89. kirghiz range
90. memorial day sale
91. elroy jetson s dog
92. nnn realty advisors
93. pinnacle armor
94. andy baldwin tessa horst
95. golfer ernie
96. what did the body of water balboa named el mar de sur or “the south sea ” come to be called
97. kelly crosby heyniger
98. aviator post
99. podrida
100. ottoman governors

Feel free to share your thoughts and ideas on taking advantage of this tool.

Comments

4 Responses to “Using Google Trends, Hot Trends”

  1. AdSmarter on May 24th, 2007 5:15 am

    Hi I posted on your blog a few days ago with negative comments telling you to quit.

    And if you keep doing what you’re doing you should quit. Writing content no one will read, trying to rank in a search engine that will never rank you properly, trying to appeal to fickle digg readers who don’t digg shit. Going on wickedfire and reading the same pseudo information. I’m sure your tired of the BS that doesn’t really help you make money. Blog…content…CPA…PPC..blah blah..nothing new

    But I can help you make money online by thinking out of the box.

    Do you have a yahoo publisher or adsense account? And do you mind doing black hat or are you strictly white hat?

    This isn’t a sales pitch at all.

  2. trigatch4 on May 24th, 2007 12:53 pm

    1) You can PM me anytime on WickedFire or reach me on AIM at trigatch4… yes I do have adsense

    2) I think unique content DOES count for a lot and is the grinding, hard work, missing link for a lot of people. I want to make sites that are actually useful to people. As for THIS blog… it’s mostly just for fun… for ME and as you can see I don’t even try to monetize it.

    3) You can make as many negative “comments” as you want and unless they are obscene… I’ll leave them up. You’re entitled to your opinion but it won’t change mine. I’ll get this whole thing down eventually and when I do… I’ll love to see your post congratulating me.

    Now… on with your sales pitch… jk

  3. trigatch4 on May 24th, 2007 12:54 pm

    By the way… hmmmm…. what WF nick do you go by? Could it be BlastYourAss? Maybe AdsenseLoser? Hmmmmm the return of BluBobbo?

  4. Celebrity News on March 23rd, 2008 11:13 pm

    Celebrity News…

    Baxter Bulletin- This is when hormones play Ping- Pong with young people’ s brains, and logic, reasoning and common sense evaporate. Of course… page editor of The Baxter Bulletin and a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Read mo…

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