Google Trends added a new website layer to its search analytics tool Friday. The new feature graphs the amount of daily unique visitors to a website and compares it to other sites, demonstrating a window into the highs and lows of web traffic.
According to the site:
“Trends for Websites combines information from a variety of sources, such as aggregated Google search data, aggregated opt-in anonymous Google Analytics data, opt-in consumer panel data, and other third-party market research.”
The first thing that came to mind for me was: “How close to Twitter are their rivals? Especially with all this Friend Feed and Plurk buzz going around.” - So thats just what I ran first:
While the above graph was of no real suprise to me. It was nice to see the visual. especially with Twitter out so far ahead. As I posted on Twitter, I would like to see the ‘plurks’ out there handle a ‘twitter-level’ of traffic, 20x what they’re currently seeing.
I was also surprised to see Bright Kite so low on the totem pole in the initial graph. The sites functionality is really topnotch. With Pownce hovering around the same level down there, I can only assume those sites are just slightly missing the mark.
Next I decided to have a look at Jeremiah Owyang’s site, Web-Strategist.com. The interest here was less about traffic and more about curiosity in what other sites Jeremiah’s user base are visiting. I had the privilege of meeting Jeremiah last month while he was in Tampa FL, Great guy!
Nothing too amazing uncovered in the above graph and data, Jeremiah agreed:
To be fair I also had to compare the traffic, as I had done with the initial Twitter graph:
(keep in mind all of these sites are really quite different from one another)
With my last Trend Graph I was starting to get away from ‘a web site’ and was starting to think more about the person or individual. The first ‘person’ who came to mind next was Kevin Rose. Switching from ‘websites’ to ’searches’ on Google Trends I performed a Trend Search for Kevin. The result (below) was a very nice graph that is obviously directly drawn from Google’s Finance Stock Graphs. Instead of stocks its the search term, or in my example the individual.
News references are indicated by graph point markers, each linking to other Google news links in relation to Kevin. Nothing really too amazing here, though it was kind of interesting that my city turned ranking #6 for those searching for ‘Kevin Rose’ (as tweeted). Tampa is the sleeping Social Media Giant, I can feel it!
What fun search terms or websites have you graphed on Google Trends?
Browse Timeline
- « iJustine. She’s lost that loving feeling Goose
- » iPhone 3G is coming July 11. Watch the guided tour.