Google just announced that it is merging Google Trends, its tool for checking trending topics, and Insights for Search, its tool for comparing search terms over time, into one single Google Trends product. As part of this merger, the company is also giving Trends a fresh coat of paint and, more importantly, it’s switching to HTML5-based charts and maps based on the Google Chart Tools. This move, says Google, will greatly enhance the mobile Google Trends experience.
The new Google Trends, the company says, will wrap both products “in a clean new interface to give you a clearer view of what’s on the world’s mind.” The new product includes features from both of its predecessors and, says Google, will make “it easier and more intuitive to dig into the data.”
Insights for Search is now deprecated, but Google notes that it is working hard to ensure that any URL that currently points to Insights for Search will still work.
Today’s update also expands the geographical reach of Google’s Hot Searches list to India, Japan and Singapore. This list, which is updated once per hour, looks at which queries are being searched for more than usual. “Google” itself is the trending query that’s currently at the top of all of these lists. This, of course, isn’t necessarily a surprise, given that today is Google’s 14th birthday, an event the company is celebrating with an animated cake on its homepage.