Google is indisputably seated at the throne in the free internet app kingdom. With 45+ tools in its arsenal, most marketers only use and are familiar with a few of them. One slightly lesser-known tool your marketing campaign should not live without is Google Insights for Search. This application, though still in beta, provides an array of incredibly helpful information about nearly any search term you might be targeting, going back to 2004. The graph and statistics generated by the tool give you valuable insights (pun intended) into the trends of search terms, and this is important data in the age of “Google first, ask questions later.” Here are six of the ways Google Insights can help fine-tune your keyword strategy:

Comparing search terms

Here, we compare by search terms to determine trends for a video rental store. Around January 2011, we see that “video” surpasses the term “dvd” in search engine popularity. We also see a steady decline of both terms, which is a less-than-subtle indication of the status of the video rental industry as a whole. When we look back all the way to 2006, we see a clear downward trend, with the term “video rental” passing “dvd rental” only because its decline has been more gradual.

How to view this report: Just enter multiple search terms, comma-separated like this:

Observing search cycles

Wondering when most people search for a new diet book? It doesn't take much guesswork after looking at this chart, which demonstrates a clear spike just after the new year, every year since 2004.

Less expected is the smaller, but still noticeable spike of searches each year around August. Perhaps all of those summer barbecues are catching up with us? Regardless, someone seeking to market a diet book might consider taking advantage of this lesser-known search trend and promote at a time when there's less competition. My blog post Why You Should Use Google Trends To Pinpoint Search Trends shows just how dramatic seasonal trends can be.

How to view this report: Shown as default report. (Color coded circles added to screenshot above for clarity.)

Incorporating news trends

Adding another dimension to the data is the integration of related news headlines into the graphs. As we see here, the popularity of the search term “child safety seat” soared the day that an article about new regulations ran on the ABC News website.

This feature is interesting, but analyzers should be cautious of making assumptions that graph changes are related to the news articles, and not other factors like time of year. Also, the news articles brought up are restricted to articles with headlines containing the same search term, so the rise of a “food safety” search may not show the news story about a national e-coli outbreak that prompted the search.

How to view this report: After performing a search, check the “News headlines” box.

Search popularity by region

Another impressive feature by Google Insights for Search is the ability to narrow search term popularity by region. When searching worldwide, Google gives us a map and bar graph showing where the heaviest usage is. For example, we see that the iPhone is most heavily searched in southeastern Asia, with Singapore at the lead.

If we were to narrow our search to the United States, a more detailed map would show that California leads the searches, followed by four southern states. Knowing where your searches are coming from helps you target your marketing where you will have the most interest (or, conversely, you can find out which areas need more marketing).

How to view this report: Displayed by default, under “Regional interest”.

Popularity by location and time range

Speaking of location, you can also find out what terms a specific region is searching for during a specific timeframe. For instance, the United Kingdom's top searches for 2011 (so far) are Facebook, BBC, and YouTube.

Searches can even be narrowed down to subregions, but overall, searches over a year seem to be very general and don't change drastically from region to region. More differences can be revealed by narrowing the timeframe to say, 7 days, and looking at the rising searches. Now, we see that in the United Kingdom, the term “kindle fire” has increased to the point of breakout, or in excess of 5,000%. The same is true for searching by time range, which has the same search parameters but in a different order.

How to view this report: Select “Compare by: Locations” then set the location and timeframe you want to view data for.

Storing the Data

A final feature that can't be left out is the ability to download the data you find as a CSV, or Comma-Separated Value file. This can be imported into a spreadsheet, which you can use to store your data or even show it in a different format, like a pie chart. This would make for easy, professional integration into presentations. Note that not all programs import the data as effectively – a quick test found that Google Docs Spreadsheet had the most success with appropriately grouping and separating the data.