It’s Halloween Again: Time for Pirates and Sexy Women?

As you get ready for the weekend and Halloween parties for kids and adults, take note of what costumes you see. If the internet can forecast, you’re in store for pirates, Tinkerbells, Wonder Women, and Playboy bunnies.

The top Halloween costume searches this year comprised of the above four terms along with Jack Sparrow. Apparently more adults are looking to get in the spirit in the true adult fashion as the search volume for “adult costumes” and “sexy Halloween costume” have doubled and quadrupled, respectively, over the same time period last year.

I bring this up not just because I love Halloween (recent costumes have included Bob Ross, a Russian sub, and a giant gerbil with a 5 foot tall wheel), but because the ability to read search trends can have meaningful impact on a business.

The easiest way to look at search trends is to use a free tool by Google called Google Trends. This tool will hopefully offer more features in the future, but right now you can compare search volume for terms over time periods, across geographic regions, and next to other search terms.

Spend some time comparing terms you think your potential clients would use to reach you. Or which adult female costume has been searched for the most over the past three Halloweens.