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Web Moves News and Information

07
Aug
2008

New Keyword Popularity Tool: Google Insights for Search

When Google started displaying search volume numbers on its famous AdWords Keyword Tool, I thought things could hardly get any better. It seems I was wrong though.

This week Google announced the release of a brand new tool. It’s called Google Insights for Search.

How is Google Insights for Search like?

I see it as a sort of Google Trends on steroids. This is due to the fact that with Google Insights for Search you can not only analyse regional trends — which are shown in maps for easier visualisation — but also view other data, such as related search terms and rising searches. Besides, this new keyword popularity tool lets you choose the desired comparison criteria: search terms (the traditional option on Google Trends), locations or time ranges.

In order to avoid confusion, you can select a category for the terms you want to research. Take a general term like “writing” and run it through different categories such as “Arts & Humanities,” “Internet,” “Computers & Electronics” and “Industries.” I guarantee you’ll see a great variation among results. And the tool will even tell you how often your chosen term fits each selected category.

Who is Google Insights for Search Intended For?

According to Inside AdWords (Google’s official AdWords blog):

Today, we’re launching Google Insights for Search, a new product designed with the advertiser in mind. It provides more flexibility and functionality for advertisers and marketers to understand search behavior, and adds some cool new features like a world heat map to graphically display search volume and regional interest.

I also highly recommend that you take a look at this page with tips on how to use this keyword popularity tool. Again, they talk about advertisers all the time. However, it doesn’t mean that you can’t use it to optimise your sites even when you don’t plan to use AdWords. After all, the data that you can gather with this toy can certainly help a lot in your SEO efforts. It can also guide you in your content creation strategy. So I’d say that the tool is perfect for anyone who wants to improve their web business.

Will Google Insights for Search kill other Google tools?

I don’t think so. Not at this moment.

If you want search volume numbers, AdWords Keyword Tool should still be your #1 choice. Google Insights for Search doesn’t display such info. Their data is based on relative numbers, not on absolute ones.

And if you tend to get a bit confused when you’re given too many research options, you’d better stick to Google Trends at a first moment. What I suggest is that you open both Google Trends and Google Insights for Search in different browser tabs (or windows, as you wish). Then type the same term on both tools and compare the result pages. Repeat this several times, until you get used to the differences and feel more comfortable when being exposed to several features at once.

You may also be interested in reading the comments posted here. They will give you some food for thought and remind you that there’s no such thing as a perfect keyword popularity tool.