Google shows off 2008's top searches

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google-zeitgeist-2008.jpgWhen you’re the world’s biggest Internet search engine, you can be pretty confident that you’re getting a pretty representative sample of what people are searching for online.

Google’s annual Zeitgeist covers a number of topics, showing what the top global searches are. Here’s a few highlights.

Unsurprisingly, US politics played a major role in searches, with Barack Obama, John McCain and Sarah Palin all being searched for, either by name or with “who is” preceding their surname.

Self-help and DIY were popular areas. “how to draw” topped the how-to chart followed by “how to kiss”, “how to write”, “how to cook”, “how to tie”, and “how to hack”. Meanwhile, plenty of people are looking for DIY weddings, TVs, solar power, tiles, audio, home, Halloween, concrete, and cars. Not everything makes sense.

Olympic sports did well this year, with gymnastics topping the chart, followed by swimming, soccer, and tennis. UK football teams topping the search were Man U, Chelsea, Chivas, Barcelona, and Arsenal.

Specific UK searches put Gordon Brown ahead of David Cameron, followed by Barack Obama and Tony Blair. The most popular recipes us Brits searched for were cupcakes, meatballs, rocky road (?), crumble topping, and Eaton mess.

Not many surprises come up when you look at what the general populous searches for. Rest assured that Google has a lot more interesting statistics that it’s not going to release to the public. Google knows everything.

Google Zeitgeist

Related posts: Google Android development | Google SearchWiki

Andy Merrett
For latest tech stories go to TechDigest.tv

3 comments

  • Lycos also released its top 2008 search terms today – and shows some interesting distinctions from the Google list, not to mention some eye-opening findings about Americans’ interests. Poker and Paris Hilton topped the list with Sara Palin at #5. The Economic Crisis surpassed the Presidential Election as the top news event. The Dark Knight beat out Ironman in the movie category. Clay Aiken topped Barack Obama and Heath Ledger among men. Anna Kournikova beat out Michael Phelps among athletes. And Perez Hilton reigned supreme among blogs, beating out Drudge and Huffington Post. The Lycos report is here: http://50.lycos.com/

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