Search Insight: Identifying Consumer Trends Using Google Insights for Search

As we discussed yesterday, keeping an eye on key product categories and hot items is always vital during the holidays. Google Insights for Search provides a platform to do just that—the tool enables us to look at search trends and see how things change from day-to-day and year-to-year.

Below are the rising searches in the 'Mass Merchants & Department Stores' category, followed by rising searches in the 'Consumer Electronics' category. These are searches that show significant growth during a time period with respect to the previous time period. In this case, we're looking at the last 7 days compared to the previous 7 days.


For instance, today we see that 'black friday' search terms make up 4 of the top 10 in the 'Mass Merchants & Department Stores' category, indicating that consumers are already seeking out Black Friday deals. In the 'Consumer Electronics' category, we see rising interest in e-readers. This indicates increased search interest in this product category and may be noteworthy to retailers who carry this item.

Keep an eye as these search terms and the search terms in your category change to better understand how consumer sentiment and search queries are changing over time. These consumer trends can help inform your keyword strategies.

Posted by Eric Lopez, the Google Retail Team