Google Correlate is yet another R&D project that can be found in Sergey and Larry’s basement— the Google Labs area of the site.
I discovered Correlate in my last Labs visit, and though it has gotten some press, it’s another one of those Googley science projects that deserves more attention.
The proposition is simple: you feed Correlate a time series of your making, and it searches a galactic-size database of keyword search frequencies to find a matching pattern. Or in math speak, a time-based pattern that correlates with a fairly high R2.
For my experiment, I was interested in finding Google searches that remained level during the year but peaked in July.
What keywords would match this seasonal variation? ‘air conditioners’, ‘pool supplies’, ‘vacation rental’?
Nope. The answer is …Continue reading