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Using Google Trends

By
Real Estate Technology with Zillow

Those geekus maximus Google engineers have done it again. With Google Trends you can see the history for different search terms over time. You can compare search terms alone or against other terms.

"So what?" you may be asking... Well, think about it this way. If you have a web site, wouldn't it be best to optimize it for the search terms people are using? I live in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert. Like any large metroplolitan area, there are LOTS of suburbs around here. Which one of them gets the most search queries? Well, let's go to Google Trends and find out....


Hmmm... interesting. Looks like between these five Phoenix suburbs, maybe I should be focusing my efforts on Mesa and Scottsdale. And if I decide to go with either Chandler, Tempe, or Gilbert then it's pretty much a toss up. 

Mesa clearly has more search results than Scottsdale. Or does it? The terms used above are very generic and encompass alot of different things. Let's look at Mesa and Scottsdale a little closer to home:

There's a longer history for Scottsdale, but looking at current history, not so much difference between the two as the first trend shows. So it's important to refine your trend queries. But if you refine them too much there won't be enough data for Google to plot. You just have to play around with it.

Google Trends is an interesting tool. I'm not saying you should blindly follow what it shows you, but it can be helpful in trying to determine where to focus your website efforts. It's also a heck of a lot of fun, in a techno-geek sort of way. Here's an interesting trend:


I see a couple of interesting things here. One is there is a distinct drop off in search volume in the fourth quarter of both 2004 and 2005. Most agents will tell you their business drops off toward the end of the year and peaks in the summer. This trend certainly supports that. The other thing to note is that KW seems well behind some of the other big boys. But wait! There's more!  Google Trends also supplies some city data as well. Here's that city data for the brokerage trends:

C21 dominates in New York City, and KW is nowhere to be found there. But look at Oklahoma City... KW, C21 and Remax are in basically a dead heat. What does this tell us? Not a whole heck of a lot. But I bet it tells some KW exec they need to expand to the Northeast... 

You can also use Google Trends for totally useless things. A couple of years ago my now 12 year old daughter was a big Britney Spears fan. That has since faded (thank goodness!). And apparently my daughter is not alone in her current opinion of Ms. Spears...

Note the news references for Brit are relatively steady over the years. Yet the search volume is steadily declining. Less tenny-boppers searching for Britney pics means less popularity for the (former) pop diva. 

Again, I would not base my entire web optimization strategy on Google Trends, but it is another good tool in the Search Engine Optimization arsenal.

Give it a whirl. It's easy, it's free and you get that warm fuzzy geeky feeling when you use it! If anyone comes up with an interesting trend analysis, I'd be interested in seeing it. 

Comments (34)

Heather Saul
Weichert Realtors Hoey Group - Wildwood, NJ
Thanks for the info.  I need to check it out. 
Feb 21, 2007 11:44 PM
Michelle Hansen Nuzzelillo, Broker/Owner
The Red House Realty Group - Tamworth, NH

This is fabulous, except our here in New Hampshire apparently our search terms "do not have enough search volume to show graphs"

Bummer!

Feb 22, 2007 12:04 AM
JudyAnn Lorenz
Bar JD Communications - Mansfield, MO
Virtual Marketing Consultant

I love these things.  It helps you to know that sometimes there are things going on in the market beyond your control.

When we were doing cattle, I made up an excel list of a package of nice bulls for the management.  Then, I charted it.  It showed some encouraging trends in their livestock management that they KNEW, but hadn't really seen on paper. 

This tool can steer us to the better key words, can show us what won't work at all if the fish aren't biting, and make us feel so SMART.

Thanks for presenting that information in such a keen manner.!

Feb 22, 2007 12:22 AM
Steve Crossland
Crossland Real Estate - Austin, TX
Austin TX Real Estate

Goog info. Thanks. I'm going to check it out more.

Steve

Feb 22, 2007 12:47 AM
Angela Wagner
Coldwell Banker Gundaker - Saint Charles, MO
Holy cow this is awesome.  I LOVE Google and never knew about this.  Thanks for sharing, gotta go Google.
Feb 22, 2007 12:56 AM
Tricia Jumonville
Bradfield Properties - Georgetown, TX
Texas REALTOR , Agent With Horse Sense

How utterly cool!  I've been playing with this for a while and sent the info off to my sales manager - this is just the kind of toy we both enjoy a lot! 

Thanks for letting us know about it! 

Feb 22, 2007 01:04 AM
Jeff Dowler, CRS
eXp Realty of California, Inc. - Carlsbad, CA
The Southern California Relocation Dude

This is terrific! Thanks for sharing such a great find. What next??

Jeff

Feb 22, 2007 01:28 AM
Sean Carroll
The Get Off Your A$$ Academy - Manhattan, NY
Real Estate Speaker and "Expert" Coach
This is very helpful when deciding where to target my online marketing dollars. The other thing to look at is how much of my competition is going after the same keywords. I have had quite a bit of success by moving away from the highest traffic towns and grabbing customers from some neighboring smaller towns who would consider that town anyway. Bigger fish, smaller pond, so to speak. Great post!
Feb 22, 2007 01:42 AM
FRANK LL0SA Esq.- Northern Virginia Broker .:. FranklyRealty.com
Northern Virginia Homes - FRANKLY REAL ESTATE Inc - Arlington, VA

Awesome. I will be spending many hours researching keywords.

So along the lines of what you said, it is important to know which keywords are used most. People don't realize that your website has to focus on a few main keywords. You can't just put every word in the universe on your page and expect to get equal ranking. But you also might consider the COMPETITION with certain keywords. If you find that "Virginia MLS" and "Buy in Virginia" have the same search volume, but "Virginia MLS" has 50% fewer results, that means that if you focus your search engine placement on the less competitive one, you will have a better chance at getting in the top 10. 

For example: Virginia MLS on google, my site is the first free site. and Free VA MLS

 

Would you mind posting this in my new group: http://activerain.com/groups/greatproducts 

Frank Borges LL0SA- Virginia Broker/ Owner FranklyRealty.com

Blog.FranklyRealty.com Featured in BusinessWeek, CNBC, WSJ etc.

                      

Feb 22, 2007 02:31 AM
Herb Hamilton
RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors - Portland, OR
Real Estate Broker ,CDPE, Downtown Portland

So much to learn so little time. I am always looking for ways to evaluate my online expierience. Thanks so much the report.

Feb 22, 2007 02:38 AM
AZ Mortgage Broker: Michael George
Arizona Wholesale Mortgage Inc. - Phoenix, AZ
AZ Mortgage Rates

Thanks for finding that and reporting it.  I will definitely go and check that out as soon as I'm done typing this.  I just posted a Google-related post if you are interested: http://activerain.com/blogs/AZmortgageLady

By the way Jay and Francy, I'm right here in the valley also.  I am a mortgage broker and I also do search engine optimization for Realtors I work with.  Let me know if you'd like to work together! 

Feb 22, 2007 02:55 AM
Joan Snodgrass
Midamerica Referral Network - Kimberling City, MO

Totally facinating.  Got to check this out.  Thanks!!

 

Ozarks Joan 

Feb 22, 2007 06:00 AM
Bryce Mohan
Bryce Mohan Photography - Bellevue, WA

Wow, great information. Certainly valuable when determining how to strcuture links to make best use of search engine rankings.

I'll surely be looking at this when I go through my next site design.  

Thanks for sharing. :)

-B

Feb 22, 2007 06:09 AM
Alexander Harb
Knights Investing - Mesquite, TX
Dallas, Texas Real Estate Investing

I bookmarked this entry for good reason.....I will be doing reaserch into keywords for my local area.....I am #7 right now BUT is the keyword a good term to be using???

I know now how to find out....

THANKS!!

 

=-D =-D

Feb 22, 2007 08:01 AM
Christoph Schweiger
Chandler, AZ
Wow, more analytics to do! Thanks for pointing this out! This could also be a great tool for listing presentations...
Feb 22, 2007 08:47 AM
Anonymous
Rick Goates
Hey guys thanks so much for sharing this! It is appreciated...Google does seem to be the search king and with overture re doing their system Google might even pick up some more business to add to the billions they are raking in.
Feb 22, 2007 08:59 AM
#30
Jennifer Fivelsdal
JFIVE Home Realty LLC | 845-758-6842|162 Deer Run Rd Red Hook NY 12571 - Rhinebeck, NY
Mid Hudson Valley real estate connection
Excellent information, now I am going to see what I can find out about my marketplace.
Feb 22, 2007 10:47 AM
Joan Whitebook
BHG The Masiello Group - Nashua, NH
Consumer Focused Real Estate Services
This is great information.  I never knew of Google trends.  I wonder what they will think of next! Thanks for bringing this information to the attention of the AR community.
Feb 22, 2007 11:33 AM
1~Judi Barrett
Integrity Real Estate Services 116 SE AVE N, Idabel, OK 74745 - Idabel, OK
BS Ed, Integrity Real Estate Services -IDABEL OK
I tried it and guess I'm in a low volume area, every term I use for "search trends" comes back "not enough volume".
Feb 22, 2007 11:47 AM
Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers
Serving the Greater Phoenix and Scottsdale Metropolitan Area - Scottsdale, AZ
Haven Express @ Keller Williams Arizona Realty
Jay - One consideration regarding the brokerage statistics.  Re/Max, CB and C21 all have extensive and expensive TV and other advertising campaigns which drives folks to search for them on Google to reach their sites.  Re/Max claims - and I believe them - that they spend more than anyone else - so I would hope they are at the top - or their ad gurus wouldn't last long.  KW does not do any national marketing campaigns - so the results are suprisingly good in comparison to the three others who spend mucho moola to get their traffic results!
Mar 10, 2007 01:53 AM