For example, in June 2012, he argued that search volume for the word "nigger(s)" could be used to measure racism in different parts of the United States.

[26] Evidence is provided by Jeremy Ginsberg et al. that Google Trends data can be used to track influenza-like illness in a population.

[27] Because the relative frequency of certain queries is highly correlated with the percentage of physician visits in which a patient presents with influenza-like symptoms, an estimate of weekly influenza activity can be reported.

Studies have been performed examining such diverse topics as use of tobacco substitutes,[29] suicide occurrence,[30] asthma,[31] and parasitic diseases.

Furthermore, it was shown by Tobias Preis et al. that there is a correlation between Google Trends data of company names and transaction volumes of the corresponding stocks on a weekly time scale.

[36][37] In April 2012, Tobias Preis, Helen Susannah Moat, H. Eugene Stanley and Steven R. Bishop used Google Trends data to demonstrate that Internet users from countries with a higher per capita gross domestic product (GDP) are more likely to search for information about the future than information about the past.

The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, suggest there may be a link between online behaviour and real-world economic indicators.

In April 2013, Tobias Preis and his colleagues Helen Susannah Moat and H. Eugene Stanley introduced a method to identify online precursors for stock market moves, using trading strategies based on search volume data provided by Google Trends.

[51] The group of Damien Challet tested the same methodology with unrelated to financial markets search words, such as terms for diseases, car brands or computer games.

For example, the search terms like "bone cancer", "Shelby GT 500" (car brand), "Moon Patrol" (computer game) provide even better performance as those selected in original work.

[42] In 2019, Tom Cochran, from public relations firm 720 Strategies, conducted a study comparing Google Trends to political polling.

[52] The study was in response to Pete Buttigieg's surge in a poll of Iowa's likely Democratic caucusgoers conducted between November 8 to 13 by the Des Moines Register.

His findings concluded that, while polling consists of far smaller sample sizes, the primary difference with Google Trends is that it only demonstrates intent to seek information.

[55] Google Trends uses representative sub-samples for analysis, which means that the data can vary depending on the time of the survey and is associated with background noise.

It has been reported in some cases that this quota is reached very quickly if one is not logged into a Google account before trying to access the Trends service.

[63] A group of researchers at Wellesley College examined data from Google Trends and analyzed how effective a tool it could be in predicting U.S. Congress elections in 2008 and 2010.

[64] Another group has also explored possible implications for financial markets and suggested possible ways to combine insights from Google Trends with other concepts in technical analysis.