Want to know what the top consumer trends are when it comes to searching for travel? Here are some great statistics from Jane Butler, Google’s industry director for travel.

Research intensity has been increasing steadily. Travelers are consuming more content online before booking a trip.

Google has seen a 15 percent increase in site visits and 30 percent increase in search clicks prior to booking

Over half of business and personal travelers interact with online travel videos in all stages of their travel planning.

Consumers are booking their trips online closer to the travel date.

Travelers are searching more for local, point-of-interest-based information around a destination while planning for and during a trip.

Google has seen a 66 percent growth since 2004 in “Near +” and “Close To +” terms in the Hotels & Accommodations Category on Google.com.

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Google is working on a social service to rival Facebook, if Web rumors are to be believed. And while Google’s social-networking efforts have so far fallen flat, even satisfied Facebook users should hope that the search engine’s efforts bear fruit.

In the past week, rumors have swirled around the possibility of a new Google-developed Facebook-killer. But given the company’s long (and sometimes rocky) relationship with social networking, the development of such a site is likely to be anything but straightforward.

Social networking is Google’s white whale. The search giant’s otherwise nearly impeccable track record of launching properties has long been marred by its inability to make headway in the space largely dominated by Facebook and MySpace. The company’s failure isn’t for a lack of trying, of course. Google has made a number of attempts to corner the market, with limited success at best.

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What does the entry of the Internet giant mean for companies already in the market, like Expedia, Priceline and even Microsoft’s Bing Travel? Wall Street analysts say the threat level from Google depends on the company.

The businesses that are most likely to be hit soonest are those known as travel meta-search engines, like Kayak and Bing Travel. These let users compare travel sites as well as prices from airlines and hotels themselves. But unlike on Orbitz, Expedia and Priceline, they don’t allow users to book with them directly. It seems that meta-search, rather than bookings, would be easiest for Google.

In fact, some analysts see Google’s move into travel as a direct reaction to the offerings at Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. Some of Bing’s features, like travel search, “have put some pressure on Google” to innovate, wrote Douglas Anmuth at Barclays Capital.

For the companies that do allow direct booking of tickets, analysts see less of an immediate concern. For one thing, Google itself said on its site that it “has no plans to sell airline tickets to consumers.”

Get the full story at The Wall Street Journal (free content)