For journalists, social media gurus and others who are keen to track what people are looking at online, the move to email alerts on what is trending on Google could help to make doing their jobs easier.
As of April 18, users can have the trending topics reports sent directly into their email account, saving them lots of searching and making it easier to know what users online are clicking on and reading.
The idea of Google Trends is not new - the search statistics service has been around 2004 -- but the accessibility of the reports without being forced to go to the trending page for reports could change the way journalists work.
By being able to find, pinpoint, and use to their advantage what topics are trending, news reports in the future may be tied even more closely to Google.
Already, the Mountain View-based search company largely dominates the Internet search sector, taking some 74 percent of all searches, according to AYTM research.
For journalists and news outlets, getting onto Google News has become a key indicator of success.
To have the trends reports sent to their inbox, a user needs to click on the "Subscribe" button on the Google Trends page. Then, Hot Searches for any country and topic can be sent to you without having to visit the site directly.
What can make it so useful for Internet observers, journalists or those simply interested in knowing how topics function on a day-to-day basis is that users can request information about specific countries, regions or topics directly to their inbox.
Think of it this way. Instead of having to delve into the numerous pages on Google Trends to begin working, a user can have all the information sent right to their inbox, helping to push out topics and stories as they relate to trends without unnecessary searching and clicking.
Google Trends can also take a recent or lengthy history and help viewers understand the ebb and flow of a specific topic, such as technology or veganism, going back to 2004. This could help many people working in specific industries see how their field is trending during certain periods or when certain news items appear.
"Trends can be really useful if you're a business owner trying to understand what people are saying about your brand, if you're a student researching a topic for sociology class, or if you're simply trying to figure out when "doge" became a thing," says Google engineer Gavri Smith in a blog post.
While over the years Google Trends has seen a number of difficulties, including the lack of an API, this new sign-up service could help to streamline and alleviate a lot of frustration users have when attempting to track items online and see how popular they have become.
In a blog post, Google engineer Gavri Smith agrees that the burden of having to manually gather information from Google Trends does represent a problem that the company wants to figure out.
"[W]ithout doing your own exploration on the Trends website, it can be tough to find the interesting -- and sometimes surprising -- topics the world is searching for," said Smith. "Starting today, it's easier to get just the right insights at just the right time with email notifications."
