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Google Trends: Yahoo Trending Up
Google released some pretty cool stuff earlier this month, including Co-Op (already everyone is talking about how, or if, it's possible to effectively spam it). But what I've been having endless fun with is the much-appreciated Google Trends. You can track the popularity of certain search phrases over time and even compare terms.
The news indicator on the right is still not very good -- often highlighting fairly irrelevant news and ignoring significant changes that just beg for an explanation. In the graph below, for example, why didn't Google Trends try to find some news that corresponded with the big spike in searches on the term "Google" in mid-2005? And the one Yahoo news item it does highlight is about the Google rival missing its financial target. Compare that with the news highlighted about Google. Hmmm.
Related link: BlogPulse from Nielsen BuzzMetrics
Labels: Google
Posted by Melanie Phung
Posted by 
Melanie Phung: 9:28 AM, May 26, 2006
Hi John - we posted the same screen grab on the same day, wow. The thing that I find so interesting about the Google vs. Yahoo comparison in particular is that Trends measures volume of searches conducted on Google. In other words: people are typing "Yahoo" into the Google search box, or even better, doing a Google search on the term "Google". What are they looking for, I wonder.
I'm also curious if the chart graphs exact matches or if the searches counted as searches on the term "Google" might not also include phrases like "Google Base," "Google webmaster rules," "Google stock," etc.
Posted by Melanie Phung: 9:03 AM, July 05, 2006
It appears the graph shows the trend in the number of Google searches that use any version of the term entered (see last paragraph in previous comment).
This NYTimes article answers some questions about using Google Base --
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/business/05leonhardt-aboutgoogtrends.html -- including how to account for common typos and misspellings.
Posted by
John Koetsier: 11:42 PM, May 25, 2006
I noticed that too ... what I'm wondering is whether Google is going to come out with a paid version of Trends:
my post on the topic ...