Find Yahoo Search Trends Like It's Not 1999
June 25, 2013 7:24 AM Subscribe
A freelance writing client of mine wants me to do some articles basically chasing Yahoo search trend topics. Not debating the wisdom or efficacy of this. It pays; that's all I care about. What I do need to find out is a better way to track these trends than just going to Yahoo's front page and seeing what is listed as Trending there. There are only ten topics listed there, with no indication of rising or falling activity. Try as I may, I can find no page dedicated to this on Yahoo. To complicate matters, the phrase "Trending Now" appears to be a section they have in their News that has nothing to do directly with trending search topics. All my Google-Fu ends up pointing to that.
Am I missing something? Can someone toss me a link? BONUS: an iOS app that I can see all this from!
Also, Google Trends, while still not Yahoo (if that's actually specifically what's desired), is pretty good at providing visualizations of the trends of specific search terms.
posted by jeffjon at 7:42 AM on June 25, 2013
posted by jeffjon at 7:42 AM on June 25, 2013
Response by poster: I am familiar with Google's tools. I wish I could effectively use them in this case. This client is very married to Yahoo's top lists and has blinders on about it, for now. No point arguing it with them. I've tried. Yahoo once had a tool that did some of what Zeitgeist and Google Trends does - Yahoo Clues - but Mayer shut it down. As it is, I seem to have little recourse but to refresh Yahoo's front page throughout the day and see what pops up new. Which feels like doing dishes by hand. There has to be a work-around. If Yahoo can list its Top Ten trending search terms on its front page, there has to be a place those are determined. It's a matter of finding where that list is aggregated from, if it can be accessed publicly.
posted by skypieces at 7:49 AM on June 25, 2013
posted by skypieces at 7:49 AM on June 25, 2013
I follow this Yahoo Search Data account on Twitter. A bit anecdotal, but good little nuggets.
posted by jourman2 at 7:53 AM on June 25, 2013
posted by jourman2 at 7:53 AM on June 25, 2013
Have you asked your client to provide you with the relevant link? If there is no such relevant link then provide alternate suggestions to them, such as the aforementioned Google ones.
posted by dfriedman at 8:09 AM on June 25, 2013
posted by dfriedman at 8:09 AM on June 25, 2013
Best answer: That which Yahoo is telling you is 'trending now' is, i am about %99.9999999999 certain, only 'trending now' for YOU...your boss also probably has a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT list of 'that which is trending now' on Yahoo. In the now-absence of 'Yahoo Clues' you can rest assured that what is 'trending now' is probably at most %65 stuff that is actually 'trending now' ...the rest being:
1) what their advertisers want you to believe is 'trending now'
2) what they think you want to believe is 'trending now' based on every click you have ever made on Yahoo and/or
3) an amalgamation of what you, your Facebook friends, and every contact in your address book thinks is 'trending now' based on the knowledge of every click they have made ever on the internet ever aquired by means that are so illegal and invasive they will make your hair stand on end.
If you cannot see the data on these 'trends' you are probably being lied to. period. It's advertising. (just checked myself...'independence day sequel' coming out in 2 years...yeah. advertising.)
if your boss wants more info about the kinds of things 'trending now' on yahoo, you're going to have to go somewhere else for the support data: Google. Google is (as of march) %67.1 of searches...Yahoo: %11.8. The data from Google is 6 times more reliable (more data points)
(actually, it's infinitely more reliable than yahoo as yahoo isn't sharing their search data in any meaningful or accessible way)
I understand your bosses are gunning for that 'Yahoo' market, but to do that effectively, you're going to have to use other tools.
posted by sexyrobot at 8:41 AM on June 25, 2013
1) what their advertisers want you to believe is 'trending now'
2) what they think you want to believe is 'trending now' based on every click you have ever made on Yahoo and/or
3) an amalgamation of what you, your Facebook friends, and every contact in your address book thinks is 'trending now' based on the knowledge of every click they have made ever on the internet ever aquired by means that are so illegal and invasive they will make your hair stand on end.
If you cannot see the data on these 'trends' you are probably being lied to. period. It's advertising. (just checked myself...'independence day sequel' coming out in 2 years...yeah. advertising.)
if your boss wants more info about the kinds of things 'trending now' on yahoo, you're going to have to go somewhere else for the support data: Google. Google is (as of march) %67.1 of searches...Yahoo: %11.8. The data from Google is 6 times more reliable (more data points)
(actually, it's infinitely more reliable than yahoo as yahoo isn't sharing their search data in any meaningful or accessible way)
I understand your bosses are gunning for that 'Yahoo' market, but to do that effectively, you're going to have to use other tools.
posted by sexyrobot at 8:41 AM on June 25, 2013
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posted by sexyrobot at 7:40 AM on June 25, 2013