First off, thank you Lifehacker, for pointing me to this new Google toy, Google Insights for Search.

Google describes it like this:

With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames.

I can see already that I’m going to have to sacrifice something major to make time to learn the nuances and power of this new offering.

The first thing I did was search for one of the client names that my employer represents. It showed a downward trend that has been going on for the past four years. Then I added an additional search term that described that company’s industry. It also showed the same decline. Interrestingly, I recall that the same client has also reduced their PR budget ofer the past few years. Hmmm.

So, it can do relative keyword trend stuff, what else can it do?

It can let you know where searches are popular, countries, states and cities. You can ger really granular with it as SEOBook mentions. You can use categories to track the growth of a given keyword as it relates to the category it is in.

So, that is all I’m going to say about this now… well, two more things. Remember not to get lost in analysis. Research is important, but don’t get mired in it. The second thing is that research is only as good as the data you use. I’m becoming a little concerned that as Google grows into it’s obvious role of world domination, how long will we trust their data?

Some fun searches here, here and here.