Google Insight – An Overview Of Search Data

Those of you who keep track of search trends, patterns, keyword volume, and search origins should love Google Insights. Insights is a tool that was released by Google which allows you to tap into the data behind the searches people are making across the globe. You can use this tool to figure out search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames. Bloggers can use this tool to figure out what people are searching for and then provide that content on their blog. For the purpose of this overview, I’m going to be using the search terms: icons, blogging, wordpress, and monetization.

Before you conduct the search, you first have to configure a few filters such as the geographic location, date range and specific categories. For this overview I’ve configured the filters for worldwide, 2008 and all categories. Once the search is conducted, Google Insights presents the data in an easy to view format on the page with sections dedicated to search results, regional interest, etc. In our test case, the search volume for these keywords is as follows: icons has 87 results, blogging has 6 results, WordPress has 60 results, and monetization has 0.

According to Google Insights, interest has waned over the past year for icons but WordPress has steadily gained in interest. The Philippines has shown the most interest in icons while they have also shown interest in WordPress. The interest in WordPress is probably due to the fact that there will be a WordCamp event in the not so distant future within that region. Speaking of WordPress, the search terms related to the keyword of WordPress tells us that many people are searching for WordPress 2.6 and even more are searching for WordPress Plugin and Theme WordPress. If you were a blogger writing about WordPress, now would be a good time to write about these particular subjects so that people will find you within their search results.

Google Insights seems like another tool to add to your arsenal as a means of figuring out the type of content that people are looking for. If you use Google Insights, please share your tips or tricks within the comments section as I’d like to know how you end up using this service.