Reading Google Trends

Determining how a search keyword is used by internet goers is a crucial part of the optimization process. After all, you need to know what the most used terms are in order for you to use them for your own purposes. And that is where having Google Trends comes in handy.

Google Trends is basically an online tool that measures how often a term used used for queries in the Google search engine. Like many of Google's other web analysis tools, the service is free of charge. And the system is easy to use too, all you have to do is enter that search phrase and Google automatically send you back data regarding the term's usage.

However, don't let the site's simple looks ad ease of operation fool you. Google Trends, in fact, generates a large amount of information, despite its seemingly minimalistic appearance. And learning how to read and use it will definitely be an advantage.

As a start, you need to understand how the main graph of a Google Trends search result works. The graph represents the average use of the term over a given period of time. The data is presented in its relative search volume index number. The Search Volume Index, or SVI, is based on the data collected from a random sample of searches..

Next to the main graph is the news reference graphs. This tallies how often the search word or phrase appears on searches in Google news. Prominently marked in the graph are the articles that had the highest volume of search results.

You probably notice that, by default, the graph starts from the year 2004. This is due to the fact that substantial data volume began being collected from around that time. You can change the data range by simply choosing your desired time period from the options provided.

Below the graphs are additional information regarding the relative rankings of your search words in terms of geographical regions, cities, and languages on which the search is carried out. You can again change the range by simply selecting the desired region. The language section automatically changes to display data on the various languages associated with that specific region. One thing that you probably notice is that no numbers are displayed beside the graphs, you can see them by accessing your Google account.

It is also easy to compare two terms on Google Trends. All you have to do is to enter the terms and separate then with a comma. Google will then return you both data sets, superimpose into each other for comparison. You can compare up to five items this way.

One important thing that you need to keep in mind when using Google Trends is that this is taken from their search engines. This means that the data that you see doesn't represent the search volume for the web. However, since Google has more than half of the the total market share for search engines, the results does have enough weight.

Also take into mind that Google itself doesn't guarantee the overall accuracy of the data. Thus, use Google Trends as a good comparison tool rather than an absolute guide.