'Buffet' steals the search show during Ramadhan

• Malaysians searched using 'buffet' during Ramadhan more than at any other time of the year
• Search interest in 'Ramadhan buffet' 120% higher than 'hotel buffet'

THE Muslim holy month of Ramadhan had Malaysians searching on their desktops, mobile phones and tablets for many things related to it and the upcoming Hari Raya celebration, with searches for ‘Buffet’ trending.
 
On google.com.my, Malaysians searched using the term 'buffet' during Ramadhan more than at any other time of the year, Google Malaysia said in a statement.
 
Searches for the term ‘buffet’ increased by 64% from 2009 to 2012 (with 2012 being partial results), showing that Malaysians are more interested in buffets than any other type of dining styles during this period.
 
Interestingly, searches for the term ‘Ramadhan buffet’ also increased by a whopping 164% during the same period. (Click to enlarge results).
 
This confirms that it is particularly the ‘Ramadhan buffet’ that is the crowd draw year-after-year with a large number of Malaysians searching for information on where to break their fast; with restaurants presumably drawing the largest number of customers to their buffet promotions than at any other time of the year, Google said.
 
Using Google’s Insights for Search free tool that helps to provide better insight into online consumer search behavior, the company also compared ‘hotel buffet’ and ‘Ramadhan buffet’ to see which search phrase was more popular over time.
 
As it turns out, search interest in 'Ramadhan buffet' was 120% higher than 'hotel buffet' between 2009 and 2012 (taking the highest peak from each term). In other words, consumer searches for ‘Ramadhan buffet’ during the Ramadhan period is 2.2 times higher than ‘hotel buffet’.
 
“Businesses and marketers can now predict future trends that are resonating with their target audience, focus their marketing campaigns and also monitor the impact of their marketing efforts,” said Sajith Sivanandan, Google Malaysia’s country manager.
 
“Based on search trends, businesses can actively target customers at the right time when the customers are actively searching online and are seeking to make a purchase.”
 
For businesses and marketers, this means the ability to test their products and services to reach audiences with relevant messages, identify emerging trends and discover opportunities, anticipate demand and seasonality, understand geographic distribution and optimize campaigns or keyword development, the company said.