Internet search leader Google has expanded its Google Trends  search query analysis tool to show the popularity of Web sites and some information on how people may be finding them through its search engine, the Mountain View, California-based company announced Friday. Targeting By Geographic Region Google Trends began in 2006 as a rudimentary tool for Internet users to learn what searchers the world over were seeking using Google's leading search engine site, augmented earlier this month when the company added a numerical gauge to use for comparing the popularity of various search terms. The free online service now allows registered Google users to compare the popularity of up to five Web sites at once and to see the results on a graph, thrusting the Internet giant into a Web traffic measurement playing field that has long faced skeptics critical of inherently imprecise techniques, where it will compete with rival services from firms such as Reston, Virginia-based comScore, Alexa, Compete.com and Quantcast. Until the changes announced Friday on the Google Webmaster Central blog, Google Trends could show a visitor only how popular various search terms were based on archived queries entered on Google's search engine or, by using the related Hot Trends utility added last year, the most searched for terms each hour, but not how various Web sites stacked up against one another in overall popularity. The Hot Trends utility has been available to show the 100 fastest-rising search queries conducted in the United States daily. Google consumer search properties director of product management R.J. Pittman called the new Google Trends features part of a "fun tool" that "compares and ranks site visitation across geographies, and related websites and searches," writing in an entry on the official Google blog. Information Gathered From Multiple Sources Earlier this month Google added the ability to use charts with numbers representing the average search traffic for those search terms popular enough to track, which Google called "normalized search volume numbers." Along with being able to compare the estimated popularity of certain Web sites which have enough unique daily visitors to be included in the service (those which Google considers to have "a significant amount of traffic,") the new Google Trends also shows a list of other sites Google considers to be  similar to the one being measured, labeled "also visited," and a selection of some of the top search terms used to find it, labeled "also searched for." Google said that its new Google Trends offers information about "geographic visitation patterns of your favorite websites," and a way to track "regions where visitors originated from, other websites that they have also visited, and terms they have also searched for." Google combined various information to come up with the new Web traffic measurements, including certain data from its own Google Analytics tool allowing Webmasters to keep track of individual sites, some Google search engine data, "opt-in consumer panel data," as well as unspecified "third-party market research," according to Google. Google did not release details about these additional sources included in the updated Google Trends for Websites service. Google said that it would update the information shown in Trends for Websites periodically, and noted that it did not use any personally identifiable information in the new Google Trends site measurement tools. Estimates Only, Google Cautions The information showing a breakdown of Web site popularity by geographic region and the similar site and search term listings was based on data gathered within the past 30 days since Google's most recent data update, the company said. The "also visited" and "also searched for" information "depict correlation, showing  other websites and other search terms that the site's visitors are likely to visit and search for," according to Google. Google Trends is a tool among many the firm considers works in progress, and is therefore housed in an area called Google Labs. "We'll keep working to improve our estimates over time," Google noted of the updated Google Trends for Websites, which was available only in an English language version when released Friday. Google said that it plans to eventually offer the service in additional native language versions. The majority of Google's own Web properties were not included for popularity comparisons, however data from rival Yahoo and others was available for creating relative Web traffic graphs. Webmasters that have specifically excluded their Web sites using a computer file called "robots.txt," a text file most search engines look for and use which controls how or whether a site is indexed for inclusion in search engine results pages, will not show up in the new Google Trends for Websites listings. Sites that don't meet Google's own quality guidelines were also left out of the updated Google Trends, said Google, also noting that those sites included in the service do not presently have a way to be removed. Google Trends Search Term Tool Adds Website Popularity Features With the upgrade, Google Trends appeared to offer new information for online advertisers using the company's AdWords program, a use Google appears to encourage. "You may also use Google Trends as an aide when managing your own Google AdWords accounts and Google AdWords accounts that you manage on behalf of others," Google said in the documentation accompanying the updated Google Trends. The tool may find use among businesses looking to compare trends with those on the sites of competitors, even though Google cautions that the data "may not match the other data sources you rely on for web traffic  information," and noted that "all results from Trends for Websites are estimated." To some industry observers, writing on WebmasterWorld, one of the Web's most popular online discussion forums for mostly tech-savvy webmasters and search engine marketing (SEM) professionals, the announcement of Google's updated Trends for Websites presented both opportunity and potential shortcomings. "Clearly, there's a lot of commercially sensitive information available through a tool like this," said one WebmasterWorld member using the handle "Receptional Andy." "Google could do a lot of good in extending their policy on other people's information to themselves," the user wrote in reference to Google's decision to exclude the majority of its own Web properties from the comparisons Google Trends now makes possible. The thought was shared by another member using the handle "dataguy." "I think it's the ultimate hypocrisy that Google would show my traffic to my competitors, but not allow us to see theirs," the member wrote. Related Links:
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