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overview
This page considers popular search terms.
It covers -
- aggregate
'top ten' reports - what are claimed
to be the most popular search terms from global and
regional engines in 2004 and 2006
- local
variation
- risk
- are some terms more 'dangerous' than others?
It
supplements the discussion of search engines
(and search engine optimisation),
search behaviour and
internet metrics.
The following pages discuss real-time reporting of online
searches and other perspectives, including 'colour pages'
business directory searches and the most popular Wikipedia
searches.
aggregate 'top ten' reports
The following lists highlight what are claimed as the
most popular search terms for 2003-8 on a selection of
major search engines.
The lists arguably are not truly representative of the
global online population as a whole, for example because
of significant regional variation (particularly outside
the 'top ten' range).
They are indicative of uncertainties about data collection
- with variation in what is supposedly the same population
- and of marketing by engine operators or third parties
such as metrics specialists. They might be construed as
indicating that the different engines are attracting substantially
different demographics.
2003
Google
1 Britney Spears
2 Harry Potter
3 Matrix
4 Shakira
5 David Beckham
6 50 Cent
7 Iraq
8 Lord of the Rings
9 Kobe Bryant
10 Tour de France |
AOL
|
Yahoo!
1 KaZaA
2 Harry Potter
3 American Idol
4 Britney Spears
5 50 Cent
6 Eminem
7 WWE
8 Paris Hilton
9 NASCAR
10 Christina Aguilera |
2004
Google
1 Britney Spears
2 Paris Hilton
3 Christina Aguilera
4 Pamela Anderson
5 Chat
6 Games
7 Carmen Electra
8 Orlando Bloom
9 Harry Potter
10 mp3 |
Lycos
1 Janet Jackson
2 Paris Hilton
3 Clay Aiken
4 Britney Spears
5 Nick Berg
6 KaZaA
7 Tattoos
8 Pamela Anderson
9 Michelle Vieth
10 Poker
|
Yahoo!
1 American Idol
2 Paris Hilton
3 Jessica Simpson
4 Britney Spears
5 Harry Potter
6 WWE
7 Usher
8 NASCAR
9 NBA
10 NFL |
AOL
1 Britney Spears
2 Paris Hilton
3 Janet Jackson
4 Oprah
5 Usher
6 Hilary Duff
7 Harry Potter
8 Pamela Anderson
9 Jessica Simpson
10 Orlando Bloom |
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|
2005
Google
1 MySpace
2 Ares
3 Baidu
4 Wikipedia
5 Orkut
6 iTunes
7 Sky News
8 World of Warcraft
9 Green Day
10 Leonardo da Vinci |
AOL
|
Yahoo!
1
Britney Spears
2 50 Cent
3 Cartoon Network
4 Mariah Carey
5 Green Day
6 Jessica Simpson
7 Paris Hilton
8 Eminem
9 Ciara
10 Lindsay Lohan |
2006
2006
Google
1 bebo
2 myspace
3 world cup
4 metacafe
5 radioblog
6 wikipedia
7 video
8 rebelde
9 mininova
10 wiki |
AOL
1 Weather
2 dictionary
3 dogs
4 American Idol
5 Maps
6 Cars
7 Games
8 Tatoo
9 Horoscopes
10 Lyrics
|
Yahoo!
1 Britney Spears
2 WWE
3 Shakira
4 Jessica Simpson
5 Paris Hilton
6 American Idol
7 Beyonce Knowles
8 Chris Brown
9 Pamela Anderson
10 Lindsay Lohan |
Metrics
specialist Hitwise claims that 'weather', 'directions',
'maps' and 'baby
names' were among the top ten generic search terms
in 2006.
local variation
Regional variation is illustrated by different results
from Google's 'local' searches in 2006 -
Australia
1 paris hilton
2 qantas
3 australian idol
4 trading post
5 virgin blue
6 delta goodrem
7 the oc
8 halo 2
9 ian thorpe
10 jennifer hawkins |
Canada
1 inuyasha
2 family guy
3 avril lavigne
4 air canada
5 canadian tire
6 johnny depp
7 metallica
8 good charlotte
9 ashton kutcher
10 canadian idol |
Denmark
1 biler
2 hunde
3 pokemon
4 tv2
5 dmi
6 dba
7 fodbold
8 ekstrabladet
9 dsb
10 peter plys |
Italy
1 meteo
2 oroscopo
3 grande fratello
4 calciomercato
5 valentino rossi
6 inter
7 ferrari
8 lavoro
9 juventus
10 vasco rossi |
Brazil
1 receita federal
2 hello kitty
3 bob esponja
4 olimpiadas
5 cifras
6 linkin park
7 avril lavigne
8 harry potter
9 folclore
10 bob marley |
Netherlands
1 voetbal
2 ajax
3 beyonce
4 georgina verbaan
5 evisu
6 feyenoord
7 andre hazes
8 theo van gogh
9 olympische
10 ali b |
In December 2006 Google reported that the most popular
subjects for that year in the UK were
1
video
2 world cup
3 steve irwin
4 prison break
5 wiki
6 euro millions
7 big brother
8 lost
9 tfl [Transport for London]
10 weather
Globally
the most popular Google searches for 2006 were
1. bebo
2. myspace
3. world cup
4. metacafe
5. radioblog
6. wikipedia
7. video
8. rebelde
9. mininova
10. wiki
The
top Google News searches were
1. paris hilton
2. orlando bloom
3. cancer
4. podcasting
5. hurricane katrina
6. bankruptcy
7. martina hingis
8. autism
9. 2006 nfl draft
10. celebrity big brother 2006
Yahoo!'s
top searches in Australia during 2006 were
1.
Steve Irwin
2. Beaconsfield miners
3. Jobs
4. Cricket
5. Recipes
6. Petrol prices
7. Real Estate
8. Workchoices
9. Drought
10. Daylight savings
For
Yahoo! elsewhere they were supposedly
UK
1 Heather Mills McCartney
2 Pete Burns
3 Big Brother
4 The Ordinary Boys
5 World Cup
6 Steve Irwin
7 Borat
8 Notting Hill Carnival
9 Zidane
10 Kate Moss |
Canada
1 NHL
2 FIFA World Cup
3 American Idol
4 Rock Star: Supernova
5 WWE
6 Neopets
7 Revenue Canada
8 Days of Our Lives
9 Environment Canada
10 Jessica Simpson |
US
1 Britney Spears
2 WWE
3 Shakira
4 Jessica Simpson
5 Paris Hilton
6 American Idol
7 Beyonce Knowles
8 Chris Brown
9 Pamela Anderson
10 Lindsay Lohan |
In
December 2008 Google reported regional variation in 'top
ten search lists, as follows -
Australia
1 games
2 sydney
3 youtube
4 myspace
5 facebook
6 google
7 ebay
8 my
9 weather
10 hotmail |
Canada
1 facebook
2 youtube
3 lyrics
4 weather
5 games
6 google
7 hotmail
8 yahoo
9 map
10 canada |
Denmark
1 af
2 youtube
3 facebook
4 krak
5 danmark
6 gratis
7 spil
8 tv
9 tv2
10 tdc |
Italy
1 youtube
2 roma
3 lavoro
4 casa
5 sardegna
6 uomini e donne
7 iphone
8 istruzione
9 elezioni
10 dieta |
Brazil
1 jogos de meninas
2 naruto
3 you tube
4 claro
5 youtube
6 jogos
7 jogo
8 esporte
9 tradutor
10 o dia |
Netherlands
1 hyves
2 youtube
3 marktplaats
4 google
5 weer
6 routeplanner
7 msn
8 hotmail
9 auto
10 lyrics |
risk
Software vendor McAfee offered a perspective in its June
2007 The State of Search Engine Safety report
on the 'riskiest' search terms, noting that some terms
are most likely to return sites with spyware and other
malicious code.
McAfee claims that terms related to music and technology
are the most likely to point you to trouble, with 4% of
search results supposedly leading to sites deemed "risky".
9% of adult sites were claimed by McAfee to produce spyware,
adware or spam, compared with 19% of digital music sites.
next page (real-time
search reports)
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Ketupa