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Improve SEO using Google Correlate and Google Trends
Google Correlate was one of the topics that we were given for our presentation in college.This is how I happened to even know that something like this exists! I had heard about Google Trends and so I thought of finding out the differences between the two.
This is what I found:
What is Google Correlate?
Google Correlate is precisely what the name suggests. It brings into your search results all those queries which have similar search patterns to the one you are looking for. It correlates i.e. it finds out a common parameter like a time duration or a location and finds out other searches which share similar trends in that specific time or location.
How is this different from Google Trends?
Google trends is like a dictionary : you get only that which you are looking for. For example you type in a query and it will show you the statistics for all that is related to the same.
Google correlate can be viewed as a thesaurus in that sense : you get similar words plus antonyms too. That means you enter your query and it returns all those queries which share trends similar to the one that you searched for. Also by using the negative correlation feature, you can find out the queries with exactly opposite trends as that of yours.
In Google correlate we can find out the severity of an epidemic based on the symptoms over a particular region of interest or a particular time interval. Moreover, we can even be able to trace its origin as in the actual place from where the epidemic started and the time when it started being severe. This can help a lot in countering its effects. For example, we can predict based on geographical data where the next vulnerable region would be and begin mandatory anti-epidemic measures in that location.
An example
I entered binge eating and here are the results below:
Something that I observed!
- First of all, I had entered binge eating and correlate showed me binge eating disorder too along with nineteen other terms which shared similar graphs.
- Secondly, I was amazed at why suddenly the graph went upwards from January end. The peak was in the week between February 1-February 8, 2015.
I will tell you why.
It was because Monica Seles, the tennis legend who has US nationality confessed on February 3, 2015 that she used binge eating to cope up with the stress in her life.
This is what Monica Seles had revealed
It's really eating huge quantities of food in a very short period of time (Binge eating). It was just uncontrollable. It was very hard to understand how on the tennis court, I would be so focused and so disciplined in my training, but when it came to binge eating I had zero control.
If you are a writer or one who frequently works with keywords, isn't it amazing to get seemingly unrelated but most-searched-for keywords in just one go using correlate? You got to know about Monica Seles while searching for binge eating and that can be used to spark a new article.
Some more features of Correlate explained
Compare US states:
When you search for something under this, it gives you a complete picture of your query across all the states of the US.
The above figure clearly indicates a high correlation in Delaware. The reason is because it has got a high enough childhood obesity rate among US states.
Compare weekly time series:
Comparison over a weekly time basis.
Compare monthly time series:
Comparison over a monthly time basis.
You can even shift your time interval by the amount of weeks/months that you desire. Moreover, you can choose the country for which you wish to perform the analysis.
One more thing
You can draw any random pattern of your choice using Search by Drawing and find out all those queries which share similar traits to the one you drew. So you can use this feature to find out all those evergreen topics that have consistently performing graphs.
Go for Whitepaper or Correlate Algorithm if you are interested in the technicalities of this.
Enter your own data using spreadsheet and analyse but for that you will have to sign into your account.
You can even look into their tutorial which is quite good. Or find out similar doubts in their FAQ section.
The Google comicbook simplifies your understanding of the concept by pictorial representation of the process in the form of Comics.
http://www.google.com/trends/correlate/comic
So by now you must have realised how interesting Google Correlate is! What are you waiting for? Correlate! Have fun :)
Google Trends
You might be familiar with Google trends. I will therefore share only an overview of the same.
What is Google Trends?
Google trends displays the popularity of the terms that you search for based on location or a timeframe. To do this, it uses only a percentage of the overall number of searches and excludes those that are duplicate (too many searches from the same user) or of low popularity.
When I entered binge eating in Trends, the queries revolved around binge eating unlike in Correlate where there were various other keywords too.
Trends and Adwords
You can search trends for the Adwords that you have included by adding them in the compare option in Google Trends. For example, to see trends for highest grossing films put in both the names Avengers + Harry Potter.
You can't automatically import your AdWords keywords into Google Trends.
Using Google Trends
Using this is pretty easy. Just follow the following steps:
- Type in your search query.
- Select the country wherein you want the trends to be analysed or keep it worldwide.
- Select the timeframe. The oldest you can search from is 2004.
- Select the category of your query.
- Click on whether you want data for web search or images or so on.
You can now view the reports for your query.
Compare trends
You can also compare two or more keywords by simply clicking on the compare button and entering your keywords one at a time.
Some operators in Google Trends
- If you type in summer sports camp then you will get results for keywords matching the whole thing.
- If you enter summer + sports camp then you will get results for both individually.
- If you search for sports camp - summer then you will obtain results for only sports camp excluding summer.
Hot searches and Top charts
The difference between theses two is that Hot searches lists all topics that are popular and trending in terms of traffic while Top charts lists those that have more volumes of searches pertaining to them.
You can find more about Google Trends in their help section.
Using Google Correlate and Trends to your advantage!
Using Google Correlate you can gather new keywords to write more articles that are performing in a similar way as your best ones (The search patterns being similar). While using Google Trends you can check which of your articles are up to date with what people are looking for!
Combine both these with Google Adwords and you have the perfect combo for keyword research. Good luck!
References
- https://www.google.co.in/trends
- https://www.google.com/trends/correlate
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2937992/Monica-Seles-41-confesses-eating-disorder-stabbing-court.html
Isn't Google Correlate a great tool for finding unrelated keywords?
© 2015 Ramachandra A Pai