Data, Data Analytics, Interests, and Google

"Information is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine." Peter Sondergaard
Google indexes billions of web pages. In turn, the wildly popular Google Search allows people to find many of those pages based on keywords and operators. Also, Google stores Data about searches and makes summary data available through its Google Trends site. The data can be viewed as visualizations. Users can also download the data for further use and analysis in Tableau, Microsoft Power BI, or other tools.
This story describes several examples of uses for Google Trends data. Maybe you will find a purpose for Google Trends for business or personal purposes.
Example Uses of Google Trends
Indianapolis 500 Automobile Race
Data Review
The Indianapolis 500 is a 500-mile automobile race that has been held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in Indianapolis, Indiana, since 1911. In the early years, races were held on Decoration Day, the holiday Americans now know as Memorial Day. It is still scheduled on Memorial Day weekend in late May each year. So, I was interested in where a search of the race in Google Trends might lead me. Performing a worldwide search of the "Indianapolis 500" topic shows some data points that are not surprising:
- Search interest peaked from May 30 through June 5, 2021. In actuality, the race was held on May 30, 2021.
- Search interest was high in the United States, where the race is performed in Indianapolis, Indiana.
- Search interest was also high in Canada, a friend, and neighbor of the United States.

These other data points stand out:
- High search interest in The Netherlands, Spain, and New Zealand.
- High search interest from August 23 through August 29, 2020.
What do these data points mean? I don’t follow racing or the Indy 500 but guessed about the interest in the race by people in The Netherlands, Spain, and New Zealand. Perhaps drivers in the race come from those countries. Here is what I found about drivers from these countries on the Indy Motor Speedway site:
- Netherlands – Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing
- Spain – Alex Palau of Chip Ganassi Racing
- New Zealand – Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing
- New Zealand – Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske
But the field also included two drivers from Canada:
- Dalton Kellett of AJ Foyt Racing
- James Hinchcliffe of Andretti Autosport
Drivers from other countries competed in the race as well. However, "Indianapolis 500" didn’t feature so highly in their searches.
But what triggered the spike in searches from August 23 through August 29, 2020? I didn’t know but guessed that another race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway sometime around those dates. A little research shows that the Indianapolis 500 in 2020 was postponed from Memorial Day weekend in May to August 23 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I didn’t solve a business problem or support decision-making to search the Indy 500 car race. But I learned some new facts, or trivia, about the race and car racing in general. Drivers are drawn from around the world to participate in the race, which has become an international affair.
Potential Business Uses
Here are ideas how about how to use Indy 500 search data in business:
- Recruit teams and drivers from additional countries to extend the reach of the event to more fans.
- Plan for the design, production, distribution, and sale of race-related merchandise such as t-shirts and memorabilia.
- Promoting and preparing for the travel of fans from regions to the race sites, potentially including airfare, hotels, car rentals, limousine service, and so on.
"I never guess, it is a shocking habit – destructive to the logical faculty." Sherlock Holmes
Comparing the Indianapolis 500 and Other Races Worldwide and in the United States
Data Review
Let’s add three other famous motor car races to the Google Trends search: the Daytona 500, Monaco Grand Prix, and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Immediately, we can see that the interest in each event spiked during race week:
- Indianapolis 500 – August 23–29, 2020, with the race held on August 23
- Daytona 500 – February 14–20, 2021, with the race held on February 15
- Monaco Grand Prix – May 23–29, 2021, with the race held on May 23
- 24 Hours of Le Mans – September 13–19, 2020, with the race held on September 19 and 20
From the charts that show interest level by region (or, in this case, country), we see that the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 exhibit high levels of interest in the US and Canada. In contrast, interest in the race is low in most others. In fact, in the US, the two American races share an interest level of 41%. Likewise, Daytona 500 interest wains outside the US and Canada, while interest in the Indy 500 remains high. The Monaco Grand Prix and 24 Hours of Le Mans show higher levels of interest in many areas. This interest level might be explained by factors such as the location of the race (for example, Le Mans is in France) and the home country of drivers. But I won’t go into details here.

Potential Business Uses
Businesses could use data in ways similar to those described in the Indianapolis 500 section above. Here are additional ideas:
- Develop a service to provide racing travel packages (all-inclusive transportation, lodging, meals, tickets, and so on) to well-paying fans.
- Advertise car performance products, perhaps with advertisements featuring race car drivers, in the lead-up to races.
Seasonal Sporting Gear Advertising
Data Review
Sports that people are interested in varies around the world. For this exercise, let’s review search trends for these sports:
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Ice Hockey
- Softball
- Tennis
The term football has been excluded since it means different sports in different countries.

What conclusions might be drawn from these data worldwide over the past year? Here are some examples:
- Basketball generates higher interest on a global scale. It is followed by baseball and tennis, which are almost equal.
- As shown in the breakdown below for Canada, ice hockey is the dominant sport of interest.
- Interest in tennis dominates in the southern hemisphere and Western Europe, except for Spain, where basketball dominates. In Portugal, the interest in basketball and tennis is equal.
- The line graph shows some seasonality, especially for basketball. But seasonality may vary between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Potential Business Uses
Organizations and companies could use sport interest data for various purposes. Here are some examples:
- Attempt to increase interest in sports participation or specific sporting events (for example, the Wimbledon tennis tournament or world championships to particular sports) in select world regions by marketing to them.
- Perform more detailed searches and analyses to determine the best times and locations to produce, distribute, and sell goods related to a specific sport.
Summary
Google Trends is a powerful free tool that you can use to understand and gain insights into people’s interests worldwide. Google Trends is easy to use and may provide helpful information for your organization or personal life.
Watch for an upcoming story about downloading data from Google Trends to expand on its capabilities with Tableau.
Use and Enhance this Python Class to Download Excel Workbooks and Prepare them for Analytics
Use Python and Bulk Insert to Quickly Load Data from CSV Files into SQL Server Tables
Query Metadata for 43 NIH Biomedical Databases with this Python Class