Google Trends Kills Alexa, Compete.com, and Quantcast.

Posted on: June 22nd, 2008 by Jeremy Schoemaker

I noticed today in Google trends you can get website data. The Google toolbar is installed by more users then any other toolbar and no doubt has the most accurate data.

Its nice to see shoemoney.com has pulled away from our arch rival John Chow.

John Chow Graph

Post written by Jeremy Schoemaker

Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.

More about Jeremy at http://www.shoemoney.com!

Have You Read:

99 Comments. What Say You?

  1. bob cobb
    June 22, 2008 at 9:56 am

    Well…how hard is it to pull away from a blog that posts 50% paid reviews and 50% posts about food?

  2. chris
    June 22, 2008 at 10:06 am

    Documentation beats conversation….jc seems to have to may ads for my taste. I am new to blogging I just think quality content will win out imo

  3. Sports Picks
    June 22, 2008 at 10:14 am

    lol, rock on! however, it looks more like chow is dropping away rather than shoemoney pulling away ;)

  4. Chris Jacobson
    June 22, 2008 at 10:24 am

    It’s “than”. ;)

  5. Raman
    June 22, 2008 at 10:36 am

    well congrats,,,but as i can see there is a decrease in the traffic of both sites.

  6. Raman
    June 22, 2008 at 10:37 am

    well…..but there is a decrease in the traffic of both sites.

  7. Jagdeep
    June 22, 2008 at 10:44 am

    seriously though, theres only so much that you can post about making money online, john chow has some really useful content

  8. Jagdeep
    June 22, 2008 at 10:45 am

    the only real way of comparing is using GA stats, anything else is useless imo

  9. Bench Press
    June 22, 2008 at 10:48 am

    Is that actually website data or is the the URL an actual search term?

    I.e going straight to your address bar and typing in shoemoney.com wil take you to here through I’m Feeling Lucky, so its counted as a search??

  10. the Story Lady
    June 22, 2008 at 11:09 am

    OOH – ramping up for the big challenge starting July 1 at http://TopAffiliateChallenge.com. This will be a heated competition for sure!

    I liked what you said in the video where you reviewed the top 10 contestants: that a strong work ethic is most important and everything else can be learned.

    Ronda Del Boccio, The Story Lady – & the only apple at the sausage fest!

  11. Chris Bartow
    June 22, 2008 at 11:33 am

    Does it use the toolbar though? Matt Cutts comment tends to point to no.

    http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-trends-for-websites/#comment-129036

  12. Stak Loaded - How to make money doing nothing!
    June 22, 2008 at 12:15 pm

    NICE!

  13. team ray
    June 22, 2008 at 12:19 pm

    lol

    it makes senses the best way to measure google stats is google

  14. Bryn (Internet Is My Life)
    June 22, 2008 at 12:24 pm

    Good stuff, I like this site more anyways, and your writing.

  15. Nick Aster
    June 22, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    Very cool. Would be nice if they put something on the Y-axis!

  16. Nick Aster
    June 22, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    Very nice. Would be nice if they put something on the Y-Axis… why leave it blank?

  17. RĂºben M.
    June 22, 2008 at 12:45 pm

    OMG OMG you pass the jhon :P
    sorry for the omg stuf, but i think is good be “best” than jhon.

  18. Winning Startups
    June 22, 2008 at 1:14 pm

    Google trends bites. I just tried my website and it said their wasn’t enough data to calculate.

  19. Jimmy
    June 22, 2008 at 1:22 pm

    I agree with Sports Picks, Chow is falling away. Shoemoney just hanging in there!

  20. Douglas
    June 22, 2008 at 1:38 pm

    That does look awesome, unfortunately, my site is still you young to use it. :(

  21. 15at17
    June 22, 2008 at 2:30 pm

    You beating Chow really isn’t surprising. I mean, after awhile no one gives two shits about what you had for lunch.

  22. Edman
    June 22, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    I wish they would put some more solid data behind that Y axis. For starters, I wonder if it starts at 0.

  23. Elite Blogger
    June 22, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    Google trends is a competitor to Alexa, and you’re right Shoe, they most likely have more toolbars installed so the data is probably more accurate.

    @winning startup, you might need some traffic to that site first ;-P

  24. Edman
    June 22, 2008 at 2:46 pm

    It appears not to be up on some datacenters and up on others. I didn’t see any results myself, but tried through ninjacloak.com and it came up well

  25. Pat
    June 22, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    I always think about… “Why do I read shoemoney.com each day?”. I never browse blogs regularly, but for some reason I continue to check shoemoney.com daily. I check googles blog, and matt cutts blog daily too, but I’m not sure what drives me to it. It seems like shoe, google, and matt are blogging to pass information freely, and because they enjoy it. It seems John does it purely for money. I may be wrong, but as far as I know, John makes all his money from his blog. Google, shoe, and Matt all do a blog onside of their regular occupations. Don’t get me wrong, John has some good stuff, but you are bombarded by ads it seems. Nice work Shoe.

  26. Jagdeep
    June 22, 2008 at 3:22 pm

    rofl

    john makes money from the tech zone and ttz media ads

  27. Collin - Feed Flare
    June 22, 2008 at 4:31 pm

    Thats right totally, and if you didn’t know if you post on going out for dinner or your trip to blog world expo…..you can write it off (tax deduction)

  28. big jason
    June 22, 2008 at 4:52 pm

    bwahahaha! some idiot actually lives and dies by their alexa ranking and thinks they are somehow doing better than you two based on alexa stats. shoe me the money I say

  29. Zander Chance
    June 22, 2008 at 4:53 pm

    This is useless! For 80% of the sites I tried, Trend couldn’t find any data.. Even sites that have been around for years and are getting hundreds of thousands of hits each month.

    I’ll stick with the tried and true (Alexa, Quantcast, Compete, etc)..

  30. Joe Hall
    June 22, 2008 at 5:00 pm

    OK, I am really confused by this post. Google Trends receives its data from all Google search queries, not just from the Google Toolbar. Secondly, Google Trends measures search volume. However, Alexa, Compete.com, and Quantcast all measure web traffic. These are two completely different stats that should be used in conjunction with each other to make well rounded analysis.

  31. Hustle Strategy
    June 22, 2008 at 5:21 pm

    Assuming you got all of your stuff set up correctly.

  32. Hustle Strategy
    June 22, 2008 at 5:22 pm

    The only problem with that argument in this case is that the ads are his content… his blog is about making money and he is showing how…

  33. Melvin
    June 22, 2008 at 5:24 pm

    stats of chow and shoemoney look like they are grappling and wrestling to get the higher one.. ;-)

  34. Melvin
    June 22, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    not really dropping… as in the stats, there are some “bad times” and good times for both bloggers…;-0

  35. Melvin
    June 22, 2008 at 5:36 pm

    actually, i dont see anything wrong about chow doing it… i don’t think hes losing his audience…

  36. Lee
    June 22, 2008 at 5:45 pm

    JohnChow was the first internet marketing blogger ive read and I liked him for a long time, also being from Vancouver its interesting when he talks about something local but now a days he does focus all on paid reviews and where he went for dinner and led away from helping people make money, shoe still finds a way and shows where the industry is going. Keep it up mr.shoemaker

  37. sean
    June 22, 2008 at 6:11 pm

    they aren’t even providing the y axis values…How can you tell what the lines represent?

  38. Mitch
    June 22, 2008 at 6:25 pm

    Sean just beat me to what I was about to say. I love seeing lines, but it would be nice to know what the numbers are that they’re trying to represent.

  39. Rasim
    June 22, 2008 at 6:48 pm

    Thats exactly what google is trying to do – take over the whole internet. They know which sites get popular and they either do their own – better version or just buy it out. Wait 5 years and half of the internet will belong to google.
    :)

  40. WatchUOnline
    June 22, 2008 at 7:42 pm

    I knew that toolbar is just a “spy” :D

  41. Brian
    June 22, 2008 at 8:54 pm

    Yes, your comment is 100% true. Google Trends is a measure of search popularity, not traffic. This graph just means people are searching more for shoemoney.com than johnchow.com. Which in itself is a retarded search. If you already know the domain name, why search for it?

    A better search and comparison is Jeremy Schoemaker, shoemoney, john chow

  42. dann404
    June 22, 2008 at 9:28 pm

    @Watchu, Not only is the toolbar a spy, they mash up data from ad clicks, se clicks, toolbar pings and now Firefox 3!
    @Rasim 5 years is being too generous, I say six months.

    How does Firefox 3 recognize a “web site that is known to install malware” or a “page that’s suspected of being a forgery”?

    “Johnathan Nightingale: For Firefox 3, we have an agreement in place with Google to use their phishing and malware databases.”

    Look at your firewall log if you have one, mine shows a ping to Google for every website I visit.
    It reminds me of the IE6 “related links”/Alexa spyware uproar.

  43. tonyrocks
    June 22, 2008 at 9:29 pm

    Don’t even think about comparing shoemoney.com with tonyrocks.com. Talk about a no holds barred, utter destruction of the Shoemoney brand :)

  44. Geiger
    June 22, 2008 at 10:23 pm

    Wow, that’s a lot of freaking data!

  45. Geiger
    June 22, 2008 at 10:27 pm

    I don’t think that it’s very accurate. I’m SURE it’s more accurate than any other though. I just checked my one website that get’s hundreds of unque visitors a day and it doesn’t show up. It has Google Analytics on it as well. I wonder if I could share let Google show that data at some point. This could be highly valuable for purchasing sites.

  46. jatt
    June 22, 2008 at 10:49 pm

    Is the graph show real stats?

    • Beauty World
      March 4, 2009 at 11:01 am

      Well, i think those graph are 100% real stats..

  47. Ranked Hard
    June 23, 2008 at 12:46 am

    “Its nice to see shoemoney.com has pulled away from our arch rival John Chow.”

    About damn time Shoe. Dude doesn’t even rank for his own name, and your link won’t help one lick. Google has given him a lifetime penalty. Even if stopped selling links that passed link juice, he’s done too much damage to EVER be forgiven….(this is based on nothing). Everyone forgives and forgets in time…

  48. Jason T
    June 23, 2008 at 1:55 am

    Shoemoney, both you and John are HUGE e-celebrities. In real life, that translates into an “E-list” celebrity, putting you behind far behind Gilbert Gottfried and Pauly Shore in status.

  49. jatt
    June 23, 2008 at 2:06 am

    i wonder if i compare my site, kurasan.blogspot with john chow.com, what graph would appeared? hoho. Shoe, i wonder if your Rss readers exceeds Jchow

  50. Not John Chow
    June 23, 2008 at 5:36 am

    I think John Chow’s popularity is falling off since he blocks me from his Top commentators widget!

  51. blauesauser
    June 23, 2008 at 6:50 am

    great i never tought that alexa will die..this quicker…
    but remember google dont win every time , the Google Q&A vs Yahoo questions
    Wikipedia vs knol ?
    Great for you shoe to bypass mister chow …

    @+

  52. Saba
    June 23, 2008 at 7:04 am

    The war of internet metrics will be a really interesting one!

    Can’t wait to see who becomes the Nielsen of Internet…..

    Thanks for always providing useful information ShoeMoney….

  53. ShoeMoney
    June 23, 2008 at 9:00 am

    shoemoney.com was blacklisted for a long time.

  54. ShoeMoney
    June 23, 2008 at 9:02 am

    hmm you fail at both attempts.

    1) This new feature measures website traffic not searches done on google.

    2) John is the most common name in America and chow is the most common chinese name… so big surprise it has search volume…..

  55. Bryan
    June 23, 2008 at 9:29 am

    Wow, that is really cool. I didn’t know Google even had a trends site. It seems like they continually duplicate every great feature on the web.

  56. Rob Malon
    June 23, 2008 at 10:02 am

    There is A LOT more to post about making money online if you combine knowledge of a coding language like PHP (and other topics – IMO I see shoemoney doing this more than John Chow). Shoemoney posted a php snippit of something months ago (forgot what it was but remember it being useful to me at the time) – That kind of overall experience is the kind of stuff that brings you out front in the end. I spend more time coding instead of blogging like these guys do so it can be detrimental too if you dont manage it well ;) .

  57. Anil Gupta
    June 23, 2008 at 10:09 am

    No doubt Google Toolbar is used by More people as compared to other toolbars like Alexa and Compete. But I don’t see many people using Google trends to check their ranking or reach compared to Alexa

  58. Brian
    June 23, 2008 at 11:03 am

    Ahhhhhhh, my bad. I didn’t see the different search tab at the top for the new feature. I was keying my search into the searches tab, not the websites tab. Makes a huge difference. Strike my last post from the record.

  59. jim
    June 23, 2008 at 11:10 am

    And assuming the IRS doesn’t decide to audit you (if her were in the US instead of Canada), just because you deduct it doesn’t mean they’ll let it go. :)

  60. jim
    June 23, 2008 at 11:11 am

    open up a magazine, the ad to content ratio is always high

  61. Paul
    June 23, 2008 at 1:43 pm

    I will have to play around with this a little.

  62. Paul
    June 23, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    lol why? It was the name was it? You must of violated John’s TOS.

  63. Ranked Hard
    June 23, 2008 at 2:58 pm

    “I noticed today in Google trends you can get website data. ”

    It does help to actually read the first sentence of a post sometimes. :)

  64. Ranked Hard
    June 23, 2008 at 3:01 pm

    “but now a days he does focus all on paid reviews and where he went for dinner and led away from helping people make money”

    This does help you make money. You have to learn where to eat. Without food, you will die and won’t make any money at all.

  65. Mike1115
    June 23, 2008 at 3:15 pm

    Anyone notice you can get great trends and data on every website, including key words, but nothing on google.com? Do no evil my @ss.

  66. Bryan
    June 23, 2008 at 4:36 pm

    After further looking into Google Trends it seems as though it needs some work. As of now it only takes sites with high traffic volumes. Alexa takes practically any site. I will still use Alexa as long as Google lists only big sites.

  67. Goran Website
    June 23, 2008 at 4:58 pm

    Its all about content and the ads should not take over.

  68. Goran Website
    June 23, 2008 at 5:01 pm

    Why does he block you Not.

  69. Goran Website
    June 23, 2008 at 5:02 pm

    Yeah there is a gradual downward slope, whats with that.

  70. Goran Website
    June 23, 2008 at 5:08 pm

    I am getting the same thing happen to me here is South Africa.

  71. Goran Website
    June 23, 2008 at 5:10 pm

    There needs to be a varied number of providers for us to use.

  72. Goran Website
    June 23, 2008 at 5:15 pm

    I find John Chow’s website slow and that why I dont go back.

  73. jatt
    June 23, 2008 at 9:16 pm

    i don’t think john chow web too slow. Perhaps it was your internet connections. But no doubt shoe blog was faster than jc

  74. Aaron
    June 23, 2008 at 10:29 pm

    Google Trends is actually a great tool for finding traffic. Take a look at what’s popular on Google, and you can earn a lot of search engine traffic by writing about it. On one of my sports blogs, I wrote a couple posts about the Boston Celtics, and traffic from Google went up like crazy during the Finals!

    Have people finally tired of “fine dining” posts? It looks like Shoemoney is winning this year.

  75. JR'S Internet Marketing Strategies
    June 24, 2008 at 2:45 am

    Wow Shoe what an accomplishment! :)

  76. DotDriven
    June 24, 2008 at 5:54 am

    But the real question, or metric, we want to know, who had the better dinner tonight?! Come on shoe, show us your food for once. Until then you will just be a second rate gazillionaire ;)

  77. Ryder
    June 24, 2008 at 6:35 am

    Shoe likes to eat Omaha steaks and not $60 dollar cheeseburgers… LOL

  78. According to Kieli
    June 24, 2008 at 3:03 pm

    This is awesome to see…..both the fact that you can get web site data, and that you are pulling ahead of Chow. I just don’t get why he publishes all that garbage on his blog, it detracts from what little brand he has going.

    I will definitely be using the google tool now to compare all kinds of web sites!

  79. Goran Website
    June 24, 2008 at 3:28 pm

    Here in South Africa our Internet bandwidth is restricted especially international bandwidth, 1mb line is one of our fastest

  80. Ranked Hard
    June 24, 2008 at 3:40 pm

    About Chow’s fine dining posts, it’s time for him to start using them as linkbait. If he eats as many odd foods as possible, like cats or zebras, people will look to the post due to it’s overall weirdness. He doesn’t do nearly enough controversial things, and so many people poke fun of him that he’s really wasting an opportunity. I remember when he filmed someone giving him a haircut. He should have had the hair dresser accidentally poke him in the eye. Does he want people to talk about him or not? If Shoe had done a haircut video, it would actually be something that people cared about.

  81. Ovidiu - GuitarFlame.com
    June 25, 2008 at 5:27 am

    This is something I haven’t observed so far. Well, bye bye, Alexa…

  82. super blogger
    June 25, 2008 at 10:13 am

    I think ALexa is the best..
    It can rating .blogspot.com
    Others can’t…

  83. Ranked Hard
    June 25, 2008 at 1:05 pm

    Agree 1,000 percent. Alexa is the best. You are changing the definition of best to mean worst, right?

  84. Sean
    June 25, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    I haven’t quite figured out what that trend data means on Google yet.

    most impressions?
    most visitors?
    most people with the toolbar installed?

    and I do think it is probably more accurate then alexa, whatever the data means on google trends

  85. Austin(Cowsgonemadd3)
    June 25, 2008 at 6:21 pm

    Dont you have to be a member or join google trends? I can see how it would provide better info than alexa being the toolbar is installed by many people online. I might give it a try as I use alexa now.

  86. Sergey Rusak
    June 25, 2008 at 9:52 pm

    Alexa is dying and Amazon seems like doesn’t care. Amazon doesn’t show their own rank. So, we can use Google to see their traffic: http://www.google.com/trends?q=www.alexa.com
    It shows that 2 years ago traffic was 30-40% higher.
    Alexa developers should work more to build more relationships with other companies to track statistics when people use other than Alexa toolbars.

  87. Sergey Rusak
    June 25, 2008 at 9:53 pm

    Hey! John Chow still have $500 for a post banner.

  88. Sergey Rusak
    June 25, 2008 at 10:00 pm

    You know, I just tested it and it shows stat for popular websites only. It can’t track websites with low traffic.
    So, Alexa can survive only because small websites…

  89. Forumistan
    June 26, 2008 at 2:40 pm

    I dont think that, that toolbar is spy.

  90. Geiger
    June 27, 2008 at 10:28 am

    You have to opt in to allow your data to be shown.
    http://www.jaygeiger.com/index.php/2008/06/24/show-google-your-data/

  91. OSx86
    June 28, 2008 at 3:22 pm

    John Chow seems like a caveman, I think his IQ is very low.

  92. Greenleaf
    June 30, 2008 at 9:09 am

    Congrats. It seems that ShoeMoney is gaining more readers. :)
    I am trying hard to get more readers to my blog but it is hard.

  93. bla
    December 2, 2008 at 3:15 am

    just so you know alexa and quantcast tries to mesure traffic for sites

    while google trends mesures the volume of searches done on google for a given keyword so if you enter your domain name it does not mean anything other than how many people search for your domain name.

    it has nothing to do with counting the traffic on your site

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