Today is Earth Day, so it seems appropriate to look at the consumer sentiment around one of the most popular marketing trends right now – ‘going green’. I started with some of the basics to see what are the most common search queries including the word green. When narrowing this down to the relevant terms, I noticed that searches on the term ‘go green’ spiked 12x higher for the week ending April 12, 2008. Much of this traffic spike originated with specific programs: one is called the ‘Go Green Initiative‘, a website for a group promoting environmentally-friendly schools and another is ‘Go Green‘, a website dedicated to a commuter challenge. For ‘going green’, the top recipient of traffic is a website called ‘The Green Guide‘ from National Geographic which provides content for environmentally-aware consumers.

The majority of consumers performing ‘green searches’ are seeking information about how and why they should go green.


While to some the benefits may be obvious, not everyone is entirely convinced – especially when the cost may be higher and budgets are tightening. Content that can explain and provide a logical rationale for purchasing the products or backing a cause will become increasingly important as consumers make purchasing decisions based upon environmental issues. Based upon our search data, we see that there is plenty of interest in green initiatives (houses/homes, cars/vehicles and products – even dating websites and ‘green singles’), but make sure to communicate why they would want to ‘go green’.