I’m sure the majority of web users only use the web, image, or map search functions of Google. However there are many tools that Google offers which aren’t necessarily advertised on the main site, or even in their ‘more Google products’. They’re usually found in the Google Labs and one of these tools in particular can help one in the beginning phases of an SEO upgrade – and it’s called Google Trends.

Google Trends allows you to view search trends by multiple terms and compare them. This allows you to see where the trends lie for your specific industry in terms of keywords and what your target market is looking for. This tool can be very powerful depending on what you use it for. It can allow you to see seasonal trends and steady traffic patterns that you otherwise may have missed. For example, you can search for yearly events like “xmas gifts” that you think may have seasonal trends:

It’s also possible to browse trends based on calendar dates rather than searching for them by viewing the Hot Trends. For example, by browsing the top 100 hot trends of November 4th, 2008 it’s obvious you’ll see the majority of results circle around the 44th presidential campaign between Barack Obama and John McCain.

It is important to remember that just because a certain search term is a ‘hot trend’ does not mean that you should put into your keywords or website content if it doesn’t fit with your topic. If it isn’t already apparent to why it’s a bad idea to incorporate content that doesn’t fit your topic or audience I strongly suggest you revert back to either my post on copywriting for SEO or Jess’ post on building the right audience.

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I read this news story today and found it slightly humorous. I heard the morning radio DJ I listen to say that apparently all American Apparel stores carry this magazine and sell it. I’m still trying to figure out what the marketing strategy must be behind it or why on earth a popular clothing store would be selling these magazines.

I still get a kick out of the name of the magazine, BUTT. Could you imagine having to tell someone where you worked or interned? “Yes, I had an internship at BUTT.”

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Facebook announced that they’ll be releasing a new tool called ‘Facebook Connect’ and it’s a way for web sites to ask users for their Facebook username and password and offer the ability to import their list of friends from Facebook, rather than other websites creating entirely new indentity verfication systems.

This means that certain companies, like the mobile service company Loopt, can use Facebook Connect so users do not have to re-enter their connections to friends when they want to track through Loopt’s service of finding friends and seeing what they are doing on a map with their mobile phone.

Facebook Connect goes two ways — information about a user’s activity on other web sites will go back and appear on the “news feed” on Facebook, where it is seen by that person’s friends on the service. However, learning from their previous mistake of Beacon advertising, Facebook is going to give users full control of what they share.

Mark Zuckerberg also mentioned that Facebook would be introducing a new “Great Apps” program as an incentive for developers to create more meaningful and useful tools or applications for Facebook. Certain applications such as Causes, a charitable giving tool, and iLike, a music sharing service, have already been given the priveledge of being part of the “Great Apps” program. As a result, applications given the designation of being in the “Great Apps” program will have better visibility and recieve a graphical “badge” to display their participation in the program.

Peronsally,  all this “Great Apps” talk makes me happy. I’m so tired of seeing stupid useless applications like ‘zombies’ and ‘buy your friends’ that clog up my profile or my requests pending channel. Some are fun yes, but I really don’t see the fun in either of the two above mentioned applications or any others like it.

And as for Facebook Connect – I wish Mark Zuckerberg luck for success with it, but we shall see how it works and if it’s accepted by users.

For now, Peace.

View the original article on Facebook Connect.

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