About Google Trends
Google Trends is a search trends feature from Google that shows how frequently a given search term is entered into Google ’ s search engine relative to the site ’ s total search volume over a given time period .
Google uses a relative score to measure the index of search activity . The maximum value , or peak popularity , is 100 . For example , if maximum number of searches for the term “ Mental health ” occurred in mid-February 2020 , the value for that week is 100 . If the following week had half as many searches , the charted value would be 50 . In neither case is the actual number of searches revealed by Google . However , the tool can be used to identify peaks , trends , and spikes in interest in various behavioral health topics . A score of 0 means there was not enough data for the term .
The following charts depict the search interest for mental health issues in the Polk County region ( i . e ., the Tampa and St . Petersburg search area ) from January 2018 to present . Though not available for charting , Google Trends provides ranks by city ( including Lakeland ) for some select terms .
In summary , the Digital and Social Media Analysis identified three core issues .
• Interest in mental health issues is elevated since the pandemic but not extraordinarily so .
• “ Sadness ” and “ depression ” are subtle but growing parts of community interest . Lakeland is a leading city in the region for people experiencing or interested in the topic of sadness . This supports the general increase in the need for behavioral health services noted elsewhere in this report .
• Although mental health-related issues are common search terms among area residents , more are interested in general health ( e . g ., COVID-related , chronic disease , and other broader health and wellness ) terms .
Mental Health Search Interest Overview
As the pandemic began and lockdowns were initiated in March 2020 , there was an increase in mental health issues . The biggest spike of interest occurred in October 2020 . Since then , interest in mental health has remained similar to pre-COVID levels .
Google Search Interest Over Time for Mental Health
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
52