Aardvark Daily

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What people want online

11 December 2008

Google's annual Zeitgeist report has just been published, and it makes very interesting reading.

If you haven't heard about Zeitgeist, it's a list of the most popular, fastest rising and other carefully categorised search terms that have been submitted to Google over the past 12 months.

These lists can give us powerful insight into what people are looking for and what they're doing online. Unfortunately this insight is not always something to feel good about.

Looking at this year's figures, one thing becomes very apparent...

Lots of young people are using the Net.

The number one search performed on Google by Kiwis is "games"and the number two is "bebo".

Now if you're an advertiser or someone looking to make money out of a Net-based venture then this is extremely valuable information.

While initiatives such as SeniorNet has done wonders for introducing older people to the wonders of the web, it's clear that it's a whole lot easier to reach young people with an online venture.

But you've got to stop and wonder why anyone would search for something like Bebo or YouTube when all they have to do is type in bebo.com or youtube.com to go directly to the website.

I figured that maybe it was because these terms were just part of a search query. ie: "youtube fast cars" - but then again, YouTube and Bebo both have their own search engines that do a pretty good job of locating content specific to their own sites so why would you?

Could it be (as I reported in a previous column) that some people think Google.com *is* the internet?

I wonder how many people have developed the habit of just typing the name of the site they wish to visit directly into Google and then clicking on the relevant hyperlink to get to the site.

Surely this can't be right?

And can it really be true that the number six most popular search term in a Google search by Kiwis is "google"?

What are people searching for if they type "google" into Google?

Are their hundreds of thousands of CF Kiwis whose browsers default to Google but who think they have to enter the world "google" to start searching?

When they hear someone say they've "googled something", do they really think you have to type in "google whatever"?

And why is Christchurch so popular?

Coming in at the seventh most popular search term, Christchurch is a full three places ahead of Auckland. What's going on down there in the south that so many other Kiwis are searching about?

Perhaps the only real glimmer of hope that might just hint that some bright people are using the Net in NZ is the fact that "large hadron collider" comes in as the tenth-fastest rising term.

Unfortunately it's still six places behind "lotto" and "facebook".

It's interesting to see that there are significant parallels between the searches conducted by Kiwis and those conducted by Aussies.

Replace TradeMe with eBay, replace Christchurch with Sydney and you'll find the rest is pretty similar. "Games" is still number one and it seems that Aussies favour myspace and facebook over bebo but not too much difference really.

The Aussies seem far more interested in US-politics though, with "sarah palin" appearing in the fastest-rising list.

One site that appears very highly ranked in searches from almost every country is YouTube. Now if only Google could figure out a way to make YouTube into a profit-making venture.

Is Google's Zeitgeist a valuable tool or just an amusing diversion?

Can we really read much into the trends and insights it offers?

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