Google Launches Insights for Search

This week Google announced the launch of Insights for Search, a free tool to help marketers plan keyword campaigns.

Users can now get in depth information on keyword combonations, frequency of searches, geographic origin of searches and patterns of popularity. One of the most valuable features the new tool offers is the ability to distingush intentions for common search terms, for example, was this person searching for "Apple: the company" from "apple: the fruit?"

Google emphasized the increased ability for geographic targeting as well. This example from the New York Times illustrates why this can be a powerful function:

The tool is aimed primarily at marketers, who may use it to devise and track advertising campaigns. A car company, for instance, could experiment with different versions of a television ad in Cleveland and Columbus, and check the number of resulting searches in each city to see which one is more effective. Or it could use the data to find out where users are searching most actively for “fuel efficiency” and aim ads for a gas-sipping vehicle there.

Google also expects that Insights for Search will be used by sectors other than marketing.

“We are also very interested in uses like the economic forecasting, finance, sociological studies, even in etymological studies to track how new words spread in the population,” said Hal Varian, Google’s chief economist.