Andy Beal tells it exactly how it is: Google trends just "took a small baby step towards being something of value." Labels: Google Trends, keywords
Actually, if you're doing broad keyword brainstorming and seasonality research and you don't want absolute counts, Google Trends is the best available tool. It gives you real Google data (though not absolute), is very handy in terms of presentation of historical data, and will also give you regional breakdowns (which seem less reliable -- did Canadians just discover cashews in 2007?).
I do find seasonality research fascinating. It forces you to rethink consumer behavior and to understand that conventional wisdom is always going to evolve online. "Holiday seasonality thinking" will give away to more granular seasonality thinking, IMHO. For example, if you search for "figs," the spikes are in October - not November or December. Well duh! This is when figs are harvested so you can get them fresh. I suppose for those of us who assume figs are some dried thing, we wouldn't give that a thought. There is so much we don't know (or research)... and the tools are out there to find out.
FWIW: search-wise, North Vancouver seems to be the fig capital of Canada. Take note!
On the other hand, if you really are looking for absolute numbers, Google Trends still falls short.
Posted by Andrew Goodman
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