So if there’s anything we’ve learned from Google Trends, it’s that you can get a pretty good temperature for how the general population is feeling by what they’re searching for. Whether it was the spike on porn searches by Bronco’s fans on the night of SB48, or the searches for love on Valentine’s Day… right?
Well, maybe people don’t get quite so existential when it comes to their Valentine googles, but there are bound to be certain search spikes. So we took at a look at some common searches related to love, loss, and loneliness, and tried to see how February 14th affects the searching population. Here are the numbers from last February:
+909% – Searches for “florist” on V-Day Versus Super Bowl Sunday
You could probably boil this one down to the fact that when a football fan’s team loses, it takes a little more than flowers to make them feel better. We’re just different like that.
-33% – Searches for “chocolate” from the Saturday before to the week of.
They say that men are clueless, but it seems like they have a pretty good idea of what women want on Valentine’s day: chocolate. Clearly, because it seems to be the only thing the search for a week in advance versus midweek averages.
+150% – Searches for “pizza delivery” on Valentine’s Day over the big game.
Even more so than on Superbowl Sunday, Valentine’s is Domino’s busier night. Maybe it’s the shame of being seen outside alone that drove pizza lovers everywhere to such a hearty Thursday night-in.
-32% – Searches for “strippers” on V-Day vs. SB 47
Maybe it’s our cynicism, but we were pleasantly surprised to see that searches for strippers actually went down on such a potentially lonely holiday. We’ll ignore the rest of February’s stats.
+130% – Searches for “singles” versus any given Saturday Night in February.
Not so surprising, quite a number of people seem to want to mingle on Valentine’s day. Even though it was on a Thursday, it seems searchers were more interested in meeting someone new that night versus any other Saturday night in the whole month.
-100% – Searches for “romantic dinner” from the night before to the Saturday after.
Clearly everyone’s romantic energy was wasted by mid-month, because after the special night, searches for romantic dinners flopped faster than Shaun White on the Halfpipe. Too soon?
-46% – Searches for “speed dating” the week after valentine’s day.
Yeah, shocking: Speed dating isn’t cool.
+555% – Searches for “Valentine’s day gift” the first day of February to the night before.
OK, so maybe we guys are ahead of the game on Chocolate, but speaking as a gift-giver who on the eve of Valentine’s 2014 has yet to make a purchase, this stat holds up.
-100% – Searches for “sexy gifts” from Valentine’s day through the end of February.
Aaaaaaand the spark’s gone.
+137% – Searches for “pregnancy test” four weeks after the big night.
Well, you can go ahead and do the math on this one.
Finding the Opportunity
More than just the bad jokes and convoluted statistics, there’s real gold to be mined here for internet marketers: certain keywords spike seasonally. What we learned from the trends is that flower delivery spikes twice a year: Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. The point is, use the trends to your advantage, and when the time comes, use those keywords to your advantage and boost traffic to your site.
Seasonal keywords, whether you’re using AdWords data or Google Trends, are something every internet marketer should be aware of. Are your keyword traffic volumes consistent each month, or will they spike at times during the year? Are those spikes worth the effort? Consider these factors when planning your strategy.
So stay safe everybody, and have a happy/pizza-filled/chocolate covered/sexy/flowery/stripper-free Valentine’s day.