We know what you’re up to
Google continues its inexorable rise with the release of a newly enhanced version of Google Insights for Search, which actually predicts search patterns, based on historic behaviour.
For years now Google has taken the very simple principle of searching for data online and not only transformed the way we search for information but is also increasingly transforming the way that information can be taken back out into the ‘real’ world.
In essence, Google has found that there are distinct patterns of behaviour around some more predictable search terms that are tied in to times of year or particular events. The new service provides a map that enables users to view these patterns and assess when and how best to target their online advertising campaign.
That’s why Google invests so much time and money in these free to use services, they’re all ultimately geared to increasing revenue from advertising campaigns and no doubt they will. After all, the secret of any good media planning is to predict behaviour as much as possible, this just takes it on to a new, more detailed and highly interactive level.
In some ways it’s obvious stuff – more people search for ‘Tour De France’ in June and July than at any other time of year. Hardly surprising. ‘Cheese’ shows a fairly consistent level of interest year around. But it will, like all things Google, pay more dividends the more time you spend with it.
The advantage of the digital environment is the enormous amount of data it can provide and the level of detail to which this can be taken and queried. But all too often people forget to link this information from an online environment back into the ‘real world’. If people are searching for Tour De France or Michael Jackson or Christmas then there’s a good chance they may also be talking, shopping, emailing about these topics. Essentially Google Insights gives us access to a wealth of consumer behaviour that we can browse and interrogate at will.
And that’s one of the real beauties of Google – it collects a wealth of information but then it develops devastatingly simple means of analysing this information and it lets us loose.
Google has turned a simple web function (search) into a way of looking at the world and the way we behave. It gives us information people would have killed for ten years ago, the challenge for us is to understand its potential and use it in a meaningful way.