Google Zeitgeist tells you what people are looking for.
If you are an online writer, you’ve probably heard hundreds of times that keywords and tags are essential to be found through Internet searches. So, what you need to know now is what are the most popular terms online, what can you find in a top 10 of interests. Social bookmarking sites are a very valuable source of this kind of information but Google is still the main reference for the majority of Internet users. And what’s even better is that Google has a very good tool to follow the trends. Each year, the Google Zeitgeist report presents a list of the top search terms in the world and in each country.
This was the final global report of 2008:
- sarah palin
- beijing 2008
- facebook login
- tuenti
- heath ledger
- obama
- nasza klasa
- wer kennt wen
- euro 2008
- jonas brothers
The basic list usually doesn’t come with a lot of surprises but this tool includes a variety of reports that may give you a deeper view of different tendencies.
For example, here’s a list of the fastest rising words in four English speaker nations from last year:
|
USA |
Canada |
UK |
Australia |
|
1. obama |
1. obama |
1. iplayer |
1. iphone |
|
2. facebook |
2. kijiji |
2. facebook |
2. facebook |
|
3. att |
3. facebook |
3. iphone |
3. google maps |
|
4. iphone |
4. cnn |
4. youtube |
4. youtube |
|
5. youtube |
5. youtube |
5. yahoo mail |
5. wiki |
|
6. fox news |
6. free movies |
6. large hadron collider |
6. anz |
|
7. palin |
7. yahoo mail |
7. obama |
7. wow |
|
8. beijing 2008 |
8. koodo |
8. friv |
8. maps |
|
9. david cook |
9. beijing 2008 |
9. jogos |
9. sarah palin |
|
10. surf the channel |
10. surf the channel |
10. wiki |
10. underbelly |
Now you have more names, more products and more information to find out or research. The US page of Google Zeitgeist can even inspire you with subjects to write about, because offers a list of “How to” and “What is” most searched items.
And if you don’t want to wait the end of the year to see the final report, you can check the hot trends updated every hour. Not enough? Check the archives and compare the results year by hear, you can find very interesting changes: how the word “facebook” is now in the place of “myspace” or how some terms resurge in certain times.
Zeitgeist means “spirit of times” in German and Google Zeitgeist certainly gives you a hint of that, don’t you think?
More articles of mine in Webupon:
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:27 am
haha im one of the people who searched iphone in australia, im part of the statistics!
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:57 am
That Iphone sucks, its a talking bomb I have one it gets hot to hot, if there were no case around it, I can not talk on it.
So I use the computer to search for things they should have had that Iphone for people in Alaska or something where there is a cold climate. There is something wrong with those cell phones, yeah its got all these features but try talking for about 45 to 50 mins, you can cook an egg on that damn thing.
I do not want another IPhone..NOOO NOO
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:09 am
Thanks for your labor on preparing this useful article.
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:57 am
This was a very useful article. I did not know such tools existed. Thanks!!
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:58 am
Great info Maria!
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:39 am
I´m sure that there were some words felt out in the statics.
I mean all the words referring to pornografy.
Nice info, thanks!
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:17 am
Great article and info! Thanks for sharing.
February 22nd, 2009 at 10:29 am
Para tener en cuenta. Gracias por esta información.
Saludos.
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:24 am
That list in english words, but if we list the spanish, half of that words searched (on english), are also in spanish words.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Good, obama is win
En australia juegan mucho World Of Warcraft, esta en el numero 7. woooooow
Buen articulo, te felicito.
Saludos
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:40 pm
interesting.. guess we have to write about one of those topics to get a lot of views.. I always thought that Beijing 2008 will top it because of the chinese population.. great article.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:32 pm
nice job Maria,saludo
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:32 pm
This is fascinating — thanks for sharing this! Nicely done.
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:41 pm
It’s interesting how many themes you can get from these lists… I didn’t know that, for instance, “WOF” was a popular video game in Australia, as the comment of autornonimo indicated. Some of the words I don’t even know what they mean, like “kijiji” in Canada’s list… But others seem to be very popular anywhere, like facebook or obama or youtube.
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Interesting topic, thanks for sharing.
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:27 pm
interesting article, Maria.
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:05 pm
I guess I better learn how to use these tools. I would like to boost my views beyond just my friends here at Triond. Great info, Maria.
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Great information, Maria.
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Useful info.
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:08 pm
good job and well-researched maria…
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Good Job, María.
Kijiji is a website,(next to my house), for buying and selling anything. Free classified ads. This is why it is so popular.
February 22nd, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Really interesting! I’ll have to keep up to date on this one.
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:38 pm
What an unusual topic, great job I never thought about words in this way.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:14 am
Great topic choice Maria. Nice work.
RJ
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:35 am
Nice post, thanks.
February 23rd, 2009 at 3:29 am
Well put. Thanks for sharing.
February 25th, 2009 at 5:26 am
I must be a rare person, I never search any of those words at all. Nice article, still.
February 25th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Great and useful post. Very well-researched.
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Oh…this was facinating.
Also, thank you for commenting on “Ever wanted to Pelt Someone…” Feedback is always nice.
March 6th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
You have just given me an idea about my next topic. Thank you for that… Very useful article.
March 18th, 2009 at 12:25 am
Awesome article very helpful and informative,
May 6th, 2009 at 5:51 am
I was searching some keywords for an article, and i came across your article! Very well presented and researched article. Thanx for the help.
May 26th, 2009 at 3:47 am
nice work! i don’t search these words though but other people do:)
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:45 am
not full statistics
because adult, cracks e.t.c terms filtered
many peoples search for junk on the net
they are billions of visitors but not presented in the statistics
July 26th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
agreed, this is only large search engine statistics not whole internet statistics
July 26th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
agreed, this is only large search engine statistics not whole internet statistics
October 15th, 2009 at 6:53 am
Nice one…