Royal Enfield nowhere in U.S. Google searches

The ZigWheels Internet site, based in India, recently pronounced "Royal Enfield most searched on Google in 2014."

Yes, probably so — in India.

In India searches for Royal Enfield are more common than searches for other brands.

But not in the United States.

Google Trends shows searches worldwide and by individual countries, including India and the United States.

Searches are charted relative to the number of searches done on Google. So a line headed down on the fever chart may not indicate that the number of searches is declining, only that that term is less popular compared to overall searches.

On the Google fever chart the highest number of searches among the search terms you compare is awarded 100 percent and the less popular terms fall as a percentage of that one.

For my chart, I compared "Royal Enfield" against "Triumph motorcycles," "Kawasaki motorcycles," and "Suzuki motorcycles" over time in the United States.

I had to add the word "motorcycles" to the searches other than Royal Enfield because Triumph, Kawasaki and Suzuki can refer to other products. "Royal Enfield" by itself is distinctive.

If I had not done this, Royal Enfield would not have registered at all on the charts. The same thing would have happened if I had compared these four motorcycle companies to "Harley-Davidson." All four would have faded to insignificance.

Any way you look at it, the chart reveals how far Royal Enfield still has to go in the United States. It barely registers on the chart. This is a powerful indication of public unawareness of the brand.

Note the regular pattern of the fever lines traced by the Japanese/Triumph brands. These reflect seasonal interest in motorcycles, always higher in Spring, lower in Winter. Royal Enfield's level is too low to even mirror this.

Not surprisingly, the Royal Enfield brand has a long way to go in creating awareness and interest in the U.S.

Try your own search terms at Google Trends.