14 DAY TRIAL // Google has introduced a very interesting tool for researchers trying to find trends in search data. Google Correlate is a Labs tool that enables users to upload data sets and then find if there are search trends that match those in the supplied data. They can also determine if there are search terms that follow the same trends to one they supply.
"Tools that provide access to search data, such as Google Trends or Google Insights for Search, weren’t designed with this type of research in mind," Matt Mohebbi, a software engineer at Google, explained.
"Those systems allow you to enter a search term and see the trend; but researchers told us they want to enter the trend of some real world activity and see which search terms best match that trend," he wrote.
"This is now possible with Google Correlate, which we’re launching today on Google Labs. Using Correlate, you can upload your own data series and see a list of search terms whose popularity best corresponds with that real world trend," he announced.
You can use Google Correlate in several ways. If you're just looking to see if there's a connection between a term and another, the simple way is to use the search box.
Digging through the search data like this can be pretty fun as well, you'll likely find some searches that follow very similar trends despite no obvious links between them.
Based on your query item, Correlate will try to find other search terms that have followed the same rise and fall in activity. Google uses the Pearson Correlation Coefficient to determine the similitude of two trends.
However, researchers will find it more useful to upload their own data, in spreadsheets or as a CSV file, and see if it matches to any search trend. Google also provides several data sets restricted to individual US states, so users can find correlations at the state level.