Google offers a new tool to learn the trends of keywords and websites. You simply type in the words you want to compare (non-English words are ok too) into the input box. Google Trends then provides you a chart of the search patterns using these key words over the past few years. You can do the same with websites, and compare activity as well.

For example I did a search on a few of the top Chinese websites (Baidu.com – blue, Sohu.com – red, 163.com – yellow) and discovered that in the past 2 years Baidu.com has really taken off in views. You can also do a country specific search by country and sub-region. So you could check China and then look into activity just within Beijing. This tool is also useful for SEO (Search Engine Opitimization). Once again, a great tool by Google.

You can try Google Trends at http://www.google.com/trends