Google has launched a new tool called Google Insights that allows you to “See what the world is searching for”.
A couple of years ago, I posted on Google outsourcing trends. Dave Stephens then used the tool to weigh-in on a spend terminology bun-fight between the two blogging heavy-weights, Jason Busch and Tim Minahan (This was in the days before the Doctor was in the house).
Now, Google has updated their tool, allowing regional views of search term data. Below is the normalised number of searches for ‘Outsourcing’ since 2004.
Outsourcing Search Frequency
The term has continued to lose ground over the past two years and is now at less than 1/4 of its normalised frequency than at its height in 2003/4.
The regional distribution has a few surprises until one gains an understanding of the data. Not surprising is India’s presence at the top of the list. More surprising is that Kenya and Mauritius are in second and third respectively. It is important to understand that the ranking shows the relative importance of the search term ‘Outsourcing’ within the search terms originating from each country and, accordingly, the list will contain aspirational contenders in addition to champions. The absence of Eastern Europe and China from the top 10 provides further evidence that the list appears to reflect myopic focus rather than ability to deliver.
Regional Distribution of 'Outsourcing' Searches
One further interesting point is that the term ‘Outsorsing’ is on the list of search terms rising in importance – Outsourcing company search-engine-optimisers take note!
And what of the smackdown? I’m sorry to report to Jason that ‘Spend Management’ has gone nowhere over the past two years although ‘Supply Management’ has also taken a bit of a beating.
I wonder what terms people are using when they search for procurement-related topics.
