This four part blog series will explain the in’s and out’s of Google’s Insights for Search web site. The entries are broken down into the following:

1. Google Insights: How Insightful it Truly is
2. What is Great about Insights?
3. Get more Insightful
4. The Mindset of Insights Users: A ‘How to’ of Google Insights for Search

The first entry will concentrate on what Insights really is, what it looks like and what it can help users with.

Google Insights: How Insightful it Truly is

At first glance Google Insights looks like your basic, simple search website, but in reality a wealth of info and knowledge lurk just below the surface. This versatile tool gives a tremendous amount of information on products and companies using an easy set-up and an eye-pleasing display. Insights for Search gives visitors up to date information on trends using informative charts and graphs. The search also links visitors to articles and trending products all around the world.

How it Works

Oh wait, you’re not familiar with Google Insights? Well don’t worry; I wasn’t either until a few days ago. The site works by analyzing “a portion of worldwide Google web searches from all Google domains to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you’ve entered, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. You can choose to see data for select Google properties, including Web search, Images, Product search, and News search.” Well that’s Google’s explanation. Let me break it down.

Perspectives

The site can be visited by anyone for free (Insights is geared towards researchers, advertisers and business owners) and it allows the visitor to type in products, companies, trends, activities and etc. under the “search terms” heading.

Great Results Displays

By simply clicking search you will be directed to the “results page.” The graphs and charts displayed on this page present the information Insights has come up with based on the product(s) you entered. These charts display the interest the entire world (according to Google searches) has had in these products over the course of about five years (2004 to present day).  The chart below shows the results of an “Apple” (as in Apple electronics) search.

(Interest Levels in Apple)

Regional Insights

The chart below breaks down the interest people have in Apple products by region. Users can see just how popular Apple truly is by looking at the top ten regions that search for this brand. For example, this graph shows that the United States has more interest in Apple than New Zealand.

(US vs. New Zealand: Apple Interest)

Users can then click on “United States” and get an even broader breakdown of the regional interest in the product. A user can see if Apple sparks more interest in the east coast or west coast.

(US Regional: Apple Interest)

Because Insights has the ability to show precise regions where products are gaining popularity, you can click on “New York” and get a listing of metros and sub regions where Apple shows interest in New York state alone.

( New York State: Apple Interest)

Top Ten Searches

Insights offers a list of the top ten search terms for the specific item you typed in, like “Apple.” People all think differently and often what the business owner feels is the most important search term is completely different from what the consumer is actually typing in to look for the product online. This chart lets people know what people search for and how they go about doing it.

For example, when I typed in “Apple,” some of the top searches were “Apple store,” “Mac,” “iPod,” and etc. So while I may find my iPod by simply typing in “Apple,” others just type in “iPod” to get the same ending result. The point of this chart is to let researchers and companies see how people find the products they are interested in.

Rising Searches

In a neighboring chart there is a list of rising searches (searches that are becoming increasingly popular in Google). Items like “Macbook,” “iPod Nano” and “iPhone Apple,” were some of the top hits for the “Apple” search. This graph allows you to see what other people are looking for in this product area. For example, you could see related items that a certain company offer, or perhaps a recent scandal or recall that has erupted from that product.

( Top Ten Related Searches: Apple)                              (Rising)

Key Points

To sum up, Google Insights:

• allows people to see the popularity of products
• explains where and at what times people are interested in various products
• shows how the rest of world goes about looking for them on Google

But there is so much more to Google Insights. I told you it wasn’t that simple…