A new tool has emerged in the perennial hunt for accurate economic forecasts: Internet search queries.

According to research from economists at the Bank of England, the words that people search on Google can provide a reliable, and timely, indicator of economic activity. And not only can Internet searches help predict results, but the research shows they can also provide a better understanding of some economic issues.

Using Google’s search data, the BOE’s Nick McLaren and Rachana Shanbhogue compared the occurrence of key words, such as “unemployed” and “house prices,” against official data for the labor and housing markets. The results showed Internet search terms are as accurate as traditional indicators at predicting trends; indeed, for the housing market they are even more accurate.

Internet searches have a number of other advantages. They are extremely timely–in contrast, official data are published with a time lag, usually at least a month, meaning they don’t provide an accurate picture of the current state of the economy. Also, the searches draw from a vast sample pool, as around 60% of the U.K.’s adult population uses the Internet every day.