We can find no evidence of any reputational impact to Scotland online as a result of the Scottish government’s decision to release Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.

The mainstream media reported last week that businesses in Scotland were concerned about the impact of the decision on Scottish business particularly with the US.

We’ve looked hard and believe that claims of a boycott have been largely exaggerated. Its a good old fashioned PR stunt to drive interest in Scottish products.

But results from Google Insights for Search do show that searches around keywords relating to Scottish products are cyclically focussed around Summer and Christmas and that search volumes have been in decline since 2006.

Search term: “scotch”
Search term:  “Scottish shortbread”
Search term: “Visit Scotland”
Search term: “Scottish tartan”