Interesting Things Learned From Google Trends

Now that Google has entered the Alexa space with Google Trends for Websites, the general public has some access to hidden traffic data from Google’s vaults. The service get its numbers from a combination of sources including search traffic, anonymous Google Analytics figures and other third party marketing data.

The emphasis is mine, but the Google Analytics figures are critical here.Google Analytics is widely used by many sites, so in theory these figures in the mix should deliver reasonable results based on fact.

So what can you learn from Google Trends for Websites?

Omnidrive joined the deadpool in January

Despite Nik from Omnidrive claiming that May was a record month for Omnidrive, Google Trends shows the site flatlined in January. I checked the front page of Omnidrive: the service is using Google Analytics, so if there was any traffic it would be on this graph.

Propeller is now the number two social voting site.

Propeller (formerly Netscape) moved ahead of Reddit in April for the first time, giving Propeller the number two spot in the social voting space. New comer Mixx is still a fair way behind, but is growing well. If you’re wondering why Digg isn’t in the chart, it’s because including Digg squashes the other lines flat.

Silicon Alley Insider is growing faster than the competition

If you take the two market leaders, TechCrunch and Mashable out of the equation, and look at the next biggest startup/ web 2.0 blogs, Silicon Alley Insider is growing the fastest.

People stopped using Megite. All at once

This could be a quirk in terms of the chart (maybe they stopped using Google Analytics?) but for a short time Megite was more popular than Techmeme, then the traffic stopped. Completely stopped. Tailrank is also showing no traffic as of mid April. Deadpool time perhaps?

Digg is more popular than the Australian Press

User generated content hating Australian journalists (not all journos, but some of them) should suck on this chart

Twitter may have officially jumped the shark

The graph seems to indicate that Twitter has peaked and is coming down the other side… only just, and it may change.

FriendFeed and Plurk have similar numbers

FriendFeed has solid, steady growth where as Plurk is a rollercoaster. Still, both are looking good

I’m catching up to Centernetworks!

I’ve always been obsessed by numbers and benchmarking (I spent too long working in jobs with KPIs), and the one site I really wanted to emulate in terms of traffic and position was Allen Stern’s Centernetworks. Great site, top bloke, and a great benchmark to aim for. I’m getting there. I don’t for one minute believe that The Inquisitr is pumping more traffic than Centernetworks, my guess is if I was doing half I’d be lucky, but it’s still really rather cool to have a chart that says I’m competitive with Allen. Now I just need some more links to improve the Technorati rank where I’m 9023 to Allen’s 1456. Enough self indulgence…must go back to working harder ?