Google Insights is probably the coolest product from Google factory (after Gmail and Google Apps) in the last few years. The product lets you conduct marketing research/insights based on search queries handled by Google. 
Lets look at an example:
- Restaurant category is a highly searched topic (relative strength: 72, above sex (66), railways (79)
- In the region interest, Karnataka tops the chart.
- Look at the map – majority keyword queries are from Western and Southern India only.
- Top 5 search terms are – bangalore restaurants, indian restaurants, delhi restaurants, mumbai restaurants and restaurants in bangalore
- Rising search terms – restaurants in pune, chennai restaurants etc.
Did you get the drift? If you are a local search player – you know what sort of queries (and most importantly, category) you need to cater to?
Most importantly, you get an idea of the target geography and queries – so define your strategy accordingly (i.e. you can always say Bangalore is hot and serve this market, or say Delhi is growing and serve that – point is that you can get a good idea about the market and top category keywords people are looking for.
Similarly, look at ‘hosting’ query::
- Kerala, Delhi and Karnataka top the chart.
- What are people looking for? web hosting, free hosting, etc.
Again, home loan is more searched than bank loanm which is way above personal loan! – Haryana tops the regional interest (Punjab among the least)
How to use this data?
- SEO – Optimize your site for these queries.
- Prioritize – You will get a fair idea of your target market/segment – and with any market research, decide what you want to do with the data.
In the past, the only other free/easy way to conduct such market approximation/keyword volume was through Google Adwords tool (i.e. approximate the keyword volume based on a keyword tool).
Google Insights does opens up ways to conduct online market research. What’s your opinion on Google Insights?
Word of caution – Like any market research, this tool too has it’s limitations – Indian state IPs do not yet map well.