Google Trends: the best and the worst of the internet

Does Google Trends reflect or increase the spamminess of the web?

trendsWe discussed Google Trends the other day in The Mu Show with Guy Dub (producer of this video showing you how to use Trends to create extra blog traffic).   It’s an application in Google that shows you the 100 hottest search phrases in Google at that moment.

And it’s constantly changing so you can keep track of up-to-the-minute trends.

At first, it looks like a bizarre mix of subjects - making you wonder what the logic is behind all those searches.

Until, of course, you realise that the underlying logic is TV.

The hottest search phrase in the US are either TV quiz questions (”What happened in London on September 7th 1859″ for something called the ‘Marriott Giveaway Quiz’) or reaction to TV events like Rick Astley’s surreal (internet swindle) best act ever award at the MTV awards.

Looking at Google Trends you can literally hear the roar of the American masses rushing to clack away at their keyboards to find those quiz answers. And you can also see the surfers, riding the wave with blogs and sites set up for no other purpose than to ‘hi-jack’ that traffic for clicks on the Google Adsense Ads placed on their pages.

I did a little experiment myself (way after the wave had broken, of course!) with this post. Am I part of the problem? Am I just adding more ’spammy junk’ to the internet? Maybe I am - although I wanted to review this book anyway.

Even if you’re ok about ‘hijacking’ a Google Trend you still have to ask yourself the most important questions: does this traffic represent a market that’s useful to me and do I have something they want?

For most of these trend surfers, the answer to both, sadly, is yes. What they’re giving away is a quiz answer and what they’re getting back is an occasional paid click.

So what’s wrong with that? The thought that eventually everything online will be shaped by people making money from people reacting to TV. Ah. Just like TV then.

Either way, take a look. It’ll make you think - hard and that’s got to be worth it.

[Yikes: update an hour later - we've had a wave of visits for the "what happened in London..." phrase (above) - even though I deliberately didn't put it in as the title of this post. Just goes to show the potency of blogs and how easy it is to get caught in the wave even if you weren't intended to surf it]

November 7, 2008 | Filed Under business insight 

Comments

2 Responses to “Google Trends: the best and the worst of the internet”

  1. Guy Dub on November 8th, 2008 11:04 am

    Great post Sam

    What you will find after studying these trends long enough are many repeating patterns that occur daily. Some of the phrases are games shows, breaking headline news or the latest film reviews for example.

    The keyphrases that I look for are ones that I can split into groups of people based around certain criterias.

    For example, people often search for the latest episodes of popular serials, now instead of trying to monetise these hits with adsense or other cost per click methods, anybody can easily create a fan base via an ‘opt In email list’. You can then use this list on a later date again and again by offering merchandise, DVDs and many other fan based products.

    Did you notice that products hit google trends almost daily? Products that people are actually searching for and want to buy? Well these products are often triggered form a popular website called woot that releases a new product everyday, and everyday it SELLS OUT! Simply write a decent non spammy review on the product that they offer and instead of going for the list option, find an affiliate deal that is as good as or better still - cheaper then Woots.
    If you are using google trends geared around your business, your best bet by far wont be to try and monetise this traffic, instead use it as a great way to build your authority on a subject. If you check daily, you may find 3 or 4 really relevent things that you can blog about. The better the post, the more comments your receive the more your authority will rise. Better yet these posts also encourage backlinks to your site that ultimately help in SEO.

  2. Sam Deeks on November 8th, 2008 11:19 am

    Aaaaagh - Guy, thanks. My head hurts but I think I get what you’re saying.

    Fancy helping me to do a ‘case study’ using a Trend to build a list / boost authority?

    Be great to podcast it - “Riding the Trend wave from start to finish” or somesuch…

    Whaddya say?

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