Google Trends:

In addition to keyword research, you may also find it useful to examine search trends. Google Trends is a useful free tool that graphs the rise and fall in popularity of 1-4 keywords from 2004 until now.

NOTE: Google Trends has been superceeded by a more powerful tool (Insight for Search) accessed via the Keyword Research Tool. Get the latest information on how to use this powerful too for SEO from The DIY SEO Seminar.

You can drill down and view trends within a specific country. You can also contrast organic search results with those from Google News.

It's a useful way of detecting seasonal variations in search requests. For example, there is a sharp drop in searches for 'seo' every summer, and a lesser drop over Christmas.

Google trends can also display the general trend for a particular keyword. For example, the following graph shows how searches for the term 'graphic designer' have fallen over the last 4 years, while there is increasing interest in 'seo'...

Google Trends has other uses beyond SEO. The above graph is a case in point. The increasing number of searches for SEO suggest it's a growing market.

This data can be used to support market research, or to get a quick feel for the search trends of a particular target market.

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