Smaaz’s Blog

Google Trends Shows List of Top-Rising Searches

May 22nd, 2007

On Monday night, Google launched Hot Trends, a new feature on the Google Trends report. Hot Trends enables users to see a list of the current top 100 fastest-rising Google search queries in the U.S. Users can also select specific dates to see what the top-rising searches were at a given point in time.

For years, Google has produced a manually compiled list of popular searches called the Google Zeitgeist. Hot Trends takes this list to a new level, providing an up-to-date snapshot of what’s on our collective mind – from current events to daily crossword puzzle clues to the latest celebrity gossip. For each Hot Trends result, the associated Google News, blog searches and Google web search results appear, giving users greater context for each result. For example, the #2 Hot Trends result on Tuesday, May 15^th was a cryptic phrase: “I who have nothing.” The associated news articles and blog results showed that this is in fact the title of a song that was performed on American Idol that night. And the associated web search results reveal this was originally a song made popular by Shirley Bassey. Mystery solved.

In addition to Hot Trends, there are a few other new changes to Google Trends to make it more informative and user-friendly. Now, in addition to viewing the top countries and cities that searched for a term, users can view the top “sub regions” (e.g. states within the U.S.) across more than 70 countries. Users can now compare the leading presidential candidates around the country, for instance, or find out what region in France is crazy about cognac. Hot Trends is Google’s newest tool for users who want to keep their finger on the pulse of what the world is searching for.

To try out Hot Trends and the new features in Google Trends, go to www.google.com/trends.

Entry Filed under: Google