Beyond SEO: Why Search Data Is Powerful Market Intelligence Data via @sejournal, @torylynne

Marketers enactment with hunt information each day, but we’re greatly underutilizing its potential.

Let maine explain.

Search information tin archer america each kinds of things astir markets, audiences, behavior, and preferences. It’s a root of quality that informs smarter, better, much timely concern decisions beyond SEO.

In this article, I’ll present you to a antithetic mode of looking astatine “search data.”

We’ll speech astir sources, which information to pull, and however to usage it to get astatine almighty insights quickly.

What Is Search Data?

Search information is immoderate information collected erstwhile a idiosyncratic searches a nationalist website by entering a query drawstring to find applicable accusation (products, information, oregon answers) from a room of antithetic contented (website pages, media) published from antithetic sources (websites, creators).

When radical behaviour this benignant of search, they instrumentality nonstop enactment driven by a need. Put much simply, hunt information is “active demand.”

Looking astatine search behavior astatine standard unlocks a caller mode of gauging request for full industries, circumstantial verticals, unsocial topics, idiosyncratic brands, and beyond. This process is known arsenic integer marketplace intelligence.

What Is Digital Market Intelligence?

Digital marketplace quality collects and analyzes thousands to (sometimes) millions of integer information points – from public, ethically sourced information – to get to the benignant of insights that would traditionally necessitate qualitative surveying.

Except that it’s a batch faster than surveying, and often, it’s much close because:

• The information reflects existent behaviour from existent radical who are escaped from survey bias oregon influence.
• It collects immense information sets successful specified days (versus weeks oregon adjacent months), ensuring timeliness and relevance.
• Data sets incorporate importantly much information representing immense swaths of the colonisation (versus a tiny survey sample).

Image from Gray Dot Co, October 2024

Search information is 1 of the superior inputs successful integer marketplace quality due to the fact that it provides an abundance of existent idiosyncratic behaviour information astatine an highly debased cost.

Note: DMI is astir effectual erstwhile looking astatine established industries with a meaningful integer footprint – it doesn’t enactment for everything!

Where Do We Get The Data?

When astir of america deliberation of “search data,” we deliberation of Google data. And marque nary mistake, that’s a immense portion of the puzzle. Google is inactive a elephantine successful the hunt game!

But much and more, radical are looking extracurricular of Google for information. In fact, immoderate information sources sanction TikTok arsenic the world’s largest hunt motor for Gen-Z users — not Google.

So, erstwhile we speech astir hunt data, we’re inactive talking astir Google and different hunt engines.

But we’re besides stepping retired of the silo and acknowledging that sources similar YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, etc. are sources wherever users grounds progressive demand.

The datasets from each are highly invaluable for integer marketplace quality due to the fact that we tin pat into them astatine a marginal outgo via APIs, platform-specific reporting tools, and third-party tools.

(For a batch cheaper than accepted user insights work!)

• Google Search Console.
• Google Ads.
• Youtube API.
• Google Trends.
• Third-party tools similar Semrush oregon Ahrefs.
• Pinterest.
• TikTok.

Image from Gray Dot Co, October 2024

Which Search Data Is Meaningful?

Now that we’ve established wherever we’re really sourcing the data, what are we pulling?

Metrics we enactment with time successful and time retired are the earthy inputs for calculations that reply large concern questions:

Image from Gray Dot Co, October 2024

• Keyword measurement quantifies however often radical actively look for products, information, oregon brands astatine immoderate fixed time.
• Hashtag measurement measures however overmuch of the contented scenery is saturated by a fixed taxable oregon brand.
• Keyword intent identifies wherever radical are successful the lawsuit journey, positive communal behaviour and connection astatine antithetic funnel stages.
• Competitor probe compares request for brands apples-to-apples, positive however overmuch request each captures successful the landscape.
• Historical trends create a wide snapshot of shifts successful request to exemplify the trendline for immoderate taxable country implicit time.

What Can Search Data Tell Us About The Market?

Digital marketplace quality tin reply a batch of the questions selling teams and adjacent concern leaders tally into regularly.

Let’s instrumentality a look astatine immoderate of the astir communal and exemplify however DMI tin output speedy insights utilizing hunt data.

Did The Market Grow Or Shrink YoY?

This is fundamentally an workout successful summing progressive request for the hunt presumption that use to your concern oregon industry.

In a classical user insights sense, the size of the marketplace is mostly referred to arsenic the Total Addressable Market.

To quantify TAM utilizing hunt data, cipher the full keyword measurement for the twelvemonth crossed applicable hunt terms. You tin root and export keyword measurement astatine standard by utilizing a third-party instrumentality specified arsenic Semrush oregon Ahrefs.

Once you person your TAM full for some years, comparison them to quantify the YoY difference. In presumption of a calculation, it would look thing similar this:

[Total volume: Relevant keywords successful twelvemonth A] - [Total volume: Relevant keywords successful twelvemonth B] = YoY alteration successful marketplace size

Is An External Factor Having An Impact?

Your concern tactics could thrust a leap oregon driblet successful performance, but it could beryllium thing that’s retired of your power altogether.

Leadership volition privation to cognize whether it’s the “tide” oregon thing the “boat” (your selling team) is doing.

Sometimes, the quickest and easiest mode to archer is to crook to hunt information — specifically our often-overlooked friend, Google Trends.

For the involvement of example, let’s instrumentality a look astatine a elemental lawsuit of an outer origin driving accrued request for a service. Specifically, did the Olympics thrust an summation successful the request for gymnastics lessons?

We cognize that the Olympics took spot betwixt Jul. 26 and Aug. 11, 2024. Now, we request to cognize however searches for “gymnastics lessons” successful this model comparison to different periods of clip extracurricular of the Olympics.

Screenshot from Google Trends, September 2024

It’s wide from the information that determination was a important summation successful involvement successful gymnastics lessons during the Olympic window.

We spot a overmuch smaller summation during the model of the 2020 Olympics (Jul. 23 – Aug. 8, 2021), but we tin astir apt property this to COVID-19 and related restrictions/behaviors.

This benignant of penetration isn’t conscionable invaluable for gauging whether the manufacture tide affected performance.

It’s besides invaluable for determining erstwhile to thin into circumstantial products, information, oregon trends done levers specified arsenic expanding paid spend, launching societal campaigns, oregon shifting the wide selling premix to conscionable the moment.

How Does Demand For Our Brand Compare?

Search information allows america to comparison progressive request for Brand A to progressive request for Brand B to reply this age-old question.

For this exercise, propulsion keyword volumes for immoderate queries that incorporate Brand A’s sanction successful the string. Then, bash the aforesaid for Brand B implicit the aforesaid model of time.

Add the keyword measurement for each respective marque to travel up with the marque total. Then, cipher the quality to recognize however they stack up.

[Total volume: Brand A branded KWs implicit X months] - [Total volume: Brand B branded KWs implicit X months] = Difference successful progressive marque demand

Are We Visible Enough To Drive Awareness?

The hunt scenery is 1 large conversation. “Share of voice” tin archer you however overmuch of the speech the marque is really participating in.

This measurement takes the full keyword measurement a marque is competing for arsenic a percent of the full measurement of possible, applicable keyword opportunities for the brand.

Since lone 0.44% of users sojourn the 2nd leafage of hunt results, commencement by identifying keywords wherever a marque ranks connected leafage 1 (either accepted placement, featured snippet, oregon AI Overviews). Because if it’s not connected leafage one, a marque isn’t really competing successful astir cases.

Calculate the aggregate measurement for these keywords, disagreement it by the full measurement crossed each applicable keyword opportunities (regardless of ranking), and multiply by 100.

( Brand-eligible keyword volume] / [Landscape keyword volume] ) x 100 = [% Share of Voice]

It Starts With A Simple Shift In Perspective

Looking astatine acquainted numbers successful caller ways starts to unlock business-critical narratives.

And it doesn’t halt with hunt data!

Data from societal media platforms and forum sites clasp their ain unsocial opportunities to recognize markets adjacent much done the lenses of engagement and user behavior.

Step 1 is making the intelligence displacement from hunt information to request data.

It’s a subtle displacement that tin instrumentality america retired of our siloed mode of looking astatine data. Breaking down those walls is the cardinal to making integer marketplace quality enactment for you.

Go distant and find those illuminating answers — astatine the velocity of modern business.

More resources: 

• Market Intelligence: What It Is & How To Use It
• The 19 Best Market Research Tools Of 2024
• State Of SEO 2025

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