Bed Bugs are on the rise, according to Search Engines

DDT nearly wiped-out the bed bug population in America until the EPA banned its use on June 14th, 1972. DDT was widely used around beds, furniture and other favorite bed bug hideouts. Some reports say it was generally effective at killing bed bugs for about a year after treatment but was also considered harmful to human health and to the environment. Although we all grew up hearing the phrase, "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite," I don't think most of us knew what bed bugs were or what pestsbed bugs could become if they made it into our home. Now that bed bugs are on the rise again, it is interesting what information you can find from Search Engines. On Google Trends, it shows which terms are being searched for and ranks them according to their increase in search volume. Below, you will find some search terms related to bed bugs that are increasing; the last column even shows how much the volume of the search term has increased:

Search Engine Results TrendsSearch Term Volume Increase

1. bed bug registry +250%
2. bed bugs registry +250%
3. bed bugs hotels  +200%
4. hotel bed bugs  +200%
5. bed bugs news  +150%
6. bed bugs nyc  +120%
7. ohio bed bugs  +110%
8. prevent bed bugs +80%
9. ny bed bugs  +70%
10. bed bugs chicago +60%

  What is also interesting to know is what people are actually searching for. According to one search engine, some of the popular searches related to bed bugs are:

What people are searching for onlineSearch Term Volume Increase

1. Bed bug bites
2. Bed bug registry
3. Bed bug pictures
4. Bed bug treatment
5. Bed bug rash
6. Bed bug heat treatment
7. Bed bug treatment options
8. Where are bed bugs most commonly found
9. Where are bed bugs the worst
10. Bead bug bite treatment

Another interesting automatically-generated bed bug info-graphic is dynamically created by searching for bed bugsin Google's Insights tool. I used Google's tool to create the map below. There are a couple of observations I had when I viewed this map for the first time. The first thought I had was that I was not surprised that the darkest shaded area, and therefore the area with the most search volume related to bed bugs, were in the states of New York and New Jersey. When it comes to bed bugs, New York is kind of the Mecca. I assume it is because of all of the international travel that goes through New York or it could be other reasons but I was not surprised to see that most of the nation's bed bug search queries came from New York and New Jersey. With all of the travel and the great weather in Florida, I was also surprised that there weren't more instances of bed bugs in that state; along with the other southern states. The mild and moist weather through the south keeps many bugs happy all year long. West of the Mississippi, I was surprised to see such high search volume for bed bugs in Arizona and Colorado. I expected to see more search volume in California, Oregon and Washington.

Related articles

• Bedbugs!!! EWWWWW!
• Sleep Tight and Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite
• Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite - What does that have to do with Insurance?