Google recently released its year end Google Zeitgeist (”Search patterns, trends, and surprises according to Google“) - Top Google searches and search trends for 2005.

Although on the surface this seems like nothing more than a curious pursuit, looking at searches over time, keyword trends and popular search terms can help your business. If you’re in the travel business, you know all about seasonality… By watching trends and knowing what to expect, and when it’s coming, you can gain an edge over your competition in the online marketplace.

While Google’s snapshot isn’t complete enough for this type of analysis (unless maybe you’re selling mp3 players). There are companies that can provide you with trend data for your particular product or niche. This can be extremely valuable in deciding when to launch products, discounts, promotions, etc. Besides the faithful WordTracker Keyword Generator, companies like Trellian and HitWise can give you trend data as well as competitive research so that you can get an idea of where your competitors are getting their traffic from and from which keywords.

Just remember to also consider the buying cycle when looking at the trend data. In other words, remember that travel consumers tend to shop the internet for several weeks before they actually buy. According to a comScore study released on October, “only 20 percent of all travel transactions linked to search engine activity occurred directly following the initial search referral, while the remaining 80 percent took place in the days and weeks following the initial search session.” So you really need to be ahead of the traditional seasonal trends when buying and optimizing for keywords, that’s where this type of data can be invaluable.


Tagged as: Search Engines, SEM, SEO, Online Marketing