Search data and social data offer two different perspectives on any given topic. Looking at signals from both, side-by-side, can help unlock a deeper understanding of how audiences engage with a topic, as well as unearthing different nuances in language, interests and behaviours.
That’s why we’re doubling down on search data and introducing a new section on Pulsar TRAC, entirely dedicated to Search Insights on the topics you’re tracking. The new Search Insights on TRAC allows you to move back & forth between social and search data in the same dashboard, and understand the different ways in which people will talk about something on social media, versus what they actually search for it online.
What can I use Search Insights for?
The introduction of Search Insights into TRAC means you can now get the full picture on how people engage with the topic you’re tracking. By looking at social data and search data side by side, you can find out how disparate or similar conversations on social are to searches on the web. Search data can be quite revealing about people’s attitudes and opinions, given its anonymous nature and whilst people might not necessarily be vocal on social media about something, for example, when it comes to sensitive topics, search data can be quite illuminating. This new layer of analysis makes it easier to understand those differences and tap into how people feel about something, and gauge what sort of questions worries or concerns they have.
Below are some of the many ways you can use Search Insights on Pulsar:
Integrate insights from social, news and forums with new ideas on how people are engaging with the topic into your planning for content strategy, SEO, campaign insights, messaging, and more
Discover adjacent behaviors, use cases, and topics to broaden your Pulsar search setup
Gauge behaviors or opinions people are not talking about publicly, but might be searching for (e.g. health concerns)
Understand common questions around your topic in order to inform how you address the topic in your marketing and comms.
That's cool – so where do I find it?
To access Search Insights, you will need to enable it at search setup on TRAC.
You can add single keywords or phrases in the web search field at search setup.
Once your search is up and running, you will find the new Search Insights section between the Topics & Content sections, as shown below, where we take the top 20 search terms in your query and allow you to see how people search for them online.
Great - so how do I read, and navigate this chart?
We surface your Search Insights in a stunning radial visualisation chart, shown in four tabs, each offering a different lens through which to look at your search data. The size of each circle indicates frequency and volume of the online search.
Questions: what sort of questions do people ask on search around a given topic?
Connections: what sort of associations do they make through the use of prepositions and verbs?
Comparisons: what sort of correlations do they make when they explore a topic on search?
Related: and what other searches do people make that are related to your topic?
Can I look at different web search terms in the same search?
Yup, if your search is set up with more than one search term, just head over to the dropdown on the top right and quickly start exploring search insights for any other web search term you have added in your search. We currently limit the drop down list to the top 20 web search terms, ranked by volume.
Can I export this?
Yes you can: just like any other of our visualizations, we give you options to export this chart (or the data therein) to Excel, PNG and SVG.
Other things to consider:
The data is 100% Google Search data.
Filtering is disabled in the Search section.
Remember you will need to have web search data enabled at search setup to see this new section - just enter your web search keywords as normal.
We will then take those same keywords (top 20), and expose them in the dashboard in the Search section, where you can switch between each term that you have specified at search set up.
The data is global, and the questions, prepositions and comparisons are in English only for now. We have plans to allow geographical targeting and to use search insights in other languages.
We are excited to see how you will use this new feature on TRAC. Feedback and suggestions are welcome as always, and you can submit this either via the in-app chat or on Collaborate.