Three new features just announced this week will make the already valuable Google Insights for Search an even stronger keyword research tool.

Here’s a look at what’s been added:

1.) New data sources

In addition to web search, you can now do keyword research for Image, News, and Product search, too. This opens up new opportunities for different types of web sites to do more specific data mining.

2.) Category suggestions

The addition of categories lets you compare your keywords to similarly-themed keywords. You can chart growth over time of a keyword compared to a larger category. For example, after clicking on the “real estate” category in the example above, Insights charts the dramatic rise in searches for “foreclosure” in the past year as compared to the overall “real estate” category.

3.) U.S. metros

You can more easily drill-down into pre-selected metro areas across the U.S. Whenever any search engine or search tool promises geo-capabilities like this, I always assume it’ll only include bigger cities. But, lo and behold, Insights even includes my (reasonably) little Yakima-Pasco DMA. (Note to Google: Those of us in the Tri-Cities generally don’t like to be included with Yakima like this.)

For more about the new features, see the official announcements on Inside AdWords and the Google News blog.

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: AdWords | Google: SEO | SEM Tools

About The Author: Matt McGee is Editor-In-Chief of Search Engine Land. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. You can read Matt's disclosures on his personal blog. See more articles by Matt McGee

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