Interest in "software consulting" down by 80% since 2004 in Google Trends | Hacker News Reader

Interest in "software consulting" down by 80% since 2004 in Google Trends

google.com

33 pointsKanbab8 comments

Interest in software consulting has not gone down 80% overall, it has gone down 80% relative to total search volume over time.

Here's the same graph with "linux" and "news" added: http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=software%20consulting...

Linux has gone down over time, while a generic term like "news" has gone up. I find it implausible that interest in Linux has decreased, but rather the internet is being adopted by more of the general population.

That doesn't seem to be the case. Here's Google's description of the scaling used:

  Numbers represent search volume relative to the highest 
  point on the chart, which is always 100. Hover over any 
  point to see the search volume at that time.

What you're quoting refers to the scaling of the axis after all the values are computed. This affects the numbers on the Y-axis, but not the shape of the graph.

The issue wting was raising is the definition of search volume. If search volume means "raw total number of searches", then the graph might support the OP's conclusion (if, e.g., we assume the population remained the same and that the same set of people aren't increasing the number of times they search for 'software consulting'). If, on the other hand, it means "fraction of all searches containing the term", then it might not because, as wting points out, the fraction of searches for 'software consulting' may go down due to a flood of searches for, say, 'honey boo boo'.

These graphs make it hard to separate software consulting, the particular shape of a contractual business arrangement, vs "software consulting" used as a buzzword phrase to describe something else, e.g. outsourcing (I see large numbers of hits in India) - and buzzwords change over time, like fashions.

No real change when you limit to US searches since 2007: http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=software%20consultant...

Add app development

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=software%20consulting...

Interest in "computers" also down by 80% since 2004 in Google Trends: http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=computers&cmpt=q

Maybe people figured out that not using generic keywords gives better results.

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