Google released its 2008 Zeitgeist
list of the most popular search terms for the year. Unlike Yahoo’s 2008 list of top search terms, Google looks at the fastest-rising searches of the year. That makes for a slightly more interesting list. (Yahoo’s list was basically a repeat of its 2007 list). Below are the two lists, and you can compare to Google’s list for 2007, which was dominated by technology searches (”iphone,” “facebook,” “youtube”).
Google’s Fastest Rising Search Terms for 2008 (Global)
1. sarah palin
2. beijing 2008
3. facebook login
4. tuenti
5. heath ledger
6. obama
7. nasza klasa
8. wer kennt wen
9. euro 2008
10. jonas brothers
Yahoo’s Top Search Terms For 2008
2. WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)
3. Barack Obama
4. Miley Cyrus
5. RuneScape
6. Jessica Alba
7. Naruto
8. Lindsay Lohan
9. Angelina Jolie
10. American Idol
Here is the U.S. list for Google, which does have more overlap with last year’s.
Google.com – Fastest Rising (U.S.)
1. obama
2. facebook
3. att
4. iphone
5. youtube
6. fox news
7. palin
8. beijing 2008
9. david cook
10. surf the channel
The top-level Zeitgeist lists are not too surprising (they never are). The most interesting trends reveal themselves only when you dive deeper. For instance, in terms of search popularity, we find that “facebook” beat out “myspace,” the “martini” beat out the “mojito,” and “ice cream” beat out “chili.”
Certain terms peak and then drop off, but they can tell us more about the national mindset than terms that remain consistently strong. For instance, searches for “hybrid car” and “solar panel” skyrocketed during the summer when gas prices reached bank account-draining levels, but dropped just as quickly as gas prices came down.
Similarly, the term “layaway” found a resurgence in popularity that coincided with the economic crisis.
This post was originally posted by our content partner Techcrunch and is being republished on ShoeMoney.com with permission.
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April 29, 2009 at 2:16 pm
since most trend topics are irrelevant to what we do, its hard to incorporate that info into our site. still trying to figure out how to use it…
April 23, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Great data!
January 7, 2009 at 3:39 pm
That is weird I would have not have thought those would be the top searches. However you could do a psychology study on the searches; based on the 3 E’s Environment, Education, and Economic standing. How do these E’s affect the searches in google and yahoo, and why.
December 24, 2008 at 3:15 am
Not surprised about Heath Ledger being in the top 5. His death definitely rocked a lot of people.
December 22, 2008 at 1:18 am
great post, i’m trying to figure out how I can use this for some of my sites
December 19, 2008 at 6:10 am
Great post…will be sure to use these key words in my sites and blogs.
December 18, 2008 at 9:42 pm
damn Obama beat Jessica Alba .. I mean I voted for the guy and all but come on … he looks really funny all oiled up in a swimsuit.
December 16, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I have to admit I searched ” Obama” a few times a day
December 16, 2008 at 6:00 am
google had given many new invention for market search
December 15, 2008 at 3:50 am
Nice results from Google this year.
December 15, 2008 at 12:57 am
The results are not all that surprising. Sarah Palin is the most over hyped person on planet earth and i don’t know why people get so jobless knowing more about her.
December 15, 2008 at 12:24 am
I am always curious what the most searched terms really mean, I mean, like why should I care. If they are people names, what can I really do about it.
December 14, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Very interesting information. Google has a huge amount of information. Google is lord of the information world.
December 13, 2008 at 9:06 am
I’m surprised Digg and Stumbleupon isn’t on the social network list
December 13, 2008 at 8:41 am
I didn’t understand why yahoo search terms are always same. We can understand google search terms why means people always search for current hot topics.
December 13, 2008 at 12:05 am
thanks for great listing……nice idea and topic for our blog……
December 12, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Great articles sir, I will post to in my site
December 12, 2008 at 5:02 pm
For the marketers that target the right terms, it is like a gold mine for them!
-Mike
December 12, 2008 at 10:37 am
Dam that’s a high quality post right there. 5 Stars for sure. Wish I got my sarah palin websites out sooner!!
December 12, 2008 at 9:20 am
Layaway being a popular search term doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. More and more people will have to take this approach very soon to purchase items that they want.
December 12, 2008 at 5:51 am
Now we know exactly what types of website we should build!
December 12, 2008 at 4:55 am
bit bizaare to see ’surf the channel’ rising fast as a search term?
December 12, 2008 at 4:49 am
I bet Sarah Palin has fallen right off the records since this report. She is long gone, thank god.
December 22, 2008 at 1:17 am
palin will be back. I feel like 2012 maybe? i don’t think we have heard the last of her. the republicans don’t have many young stars right now.
December 12, 2008 at 1:49 am
hello, I would like to know how I can make my blog a few months I will generate huge profits equivalent to a minimum of 20 000 dlls a month,I need only a good ranking in google and have a good design in my blog or need anything more.
December 11, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Sara Palin Google… Britney Spears Yahoo…Quite a difference there
December 11, 2008 at 8:08 pm
great data
December 11, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Jonas Brother’s beat Hanna Montana! Ha!
December 11, 2008 at 4:58 pm
i am deffinitely going to use these trends into my new business site idea that is merely a trend machine!
December 11, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Just for the sake of testing I`d create a website and optimize it for some long tail keywords related to’ Britney Spears’,
Why would ‘Facebook Login’ be a popular search term.. pretty confusing..:)
December 12, 2008 at 5:15 am
People are lazy! Navigational search just got lazier
December 11, 2008 at 3:29 pm
dont have a clue about what is jonas brothers..
December 20, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Have you been living under a rock?
December 11, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I think most interesting
December 11, 2008 at 11:47 am
The political theme is always discussable, so some people can make money on it
December 11, 2008 at 9:49 am
Interesting post!!! I guess I should make a website about sarah palin or barrack obama to really generate some good traffic!!! HMMMMM hehehehe
December 11, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Maximum search also impacts heavy competition. hence the big guys already rule the game. its tough to compete there, especially if you are a small boy…
December 11, 2008 at 9:46 am
Shoemoney didn’t make the list?!?
December 11, 2008 at 8:55 am
Great data. I could see how one could base their affiliate programs around the trends and what is rising in popularity.
December 11, 2008 at 8:46 am
Wow, very interesting Shoe. Most especially “Google’s Fastest Rising Search Terms for 2008 (Global)” list, it’s strange how Sarah Palin was searched more than Obama. Hmmm… very interesting indeed.
The Google report is much comprehensive than Yahoo!’s.
December 22, 2008 at 1:15 am
sarah palin was so new, nobody knew anything about her. we had to search on the internet for her
December 11, 2008 at 8:33 am
thx for posting some interesting stuff in it where did you get it from?
December 11, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I guess the link is present in the post, check on the top of the post. you an also get it from google. try googling it….
December 11, 2008 at 4:36 pm
lol sorry it is I just did not see it the first time.
thx
December 11, 2008 at 8:21 am
Face book is still the giant man. If someone could come up with a new stuff to make money with facebook. Thats it, another millionaire is born!
December 11, 2008 at 8:10 am
Ahh I see a trend here! Google users are more interested in world news and politics while Yahoo users are more interested in entertainment news!
December 14, 2008 at 10:46 pm
This is true. -)
December 22, 2008 at 1:15 am
i think yahoo uses this data significatly, just look at their home page and the news topics on there
December 11, 2008 at 7:52 am
I have been using this data for a few days now … very helpful! This is great stuff!
December 11, 2008 at 7:39 am
“Surf the Channel” is that really so popular? I must be really old. I guess its something I need to check out.
December 11, 2008 at 7:39 am
That’s cool. Obviously, most people look for entertainment (youtube, facebook) except during some financial crisis or price hike.
December 11, 2008 at 3:27 pm
dow drops down and that impacts the entertainment…
December 11, 2008 at 6:52 am
Lists such as these are great for marketers. We can adjust our keyword use in blogs and website to coincide with the market tendencies.
I’d like to see the top 100 or top 1000 instead of the top 10 to take advantage of the long tail keywords.
Great post!
December 12, 2008 at 7:39 am
For MMO the Yahoo list could hold more value. Try monetizing Beijing 2008 now. Sarah Palin and Heath Ledger will be on a steep decline. What Yahoo’s list shows is that campaigns built around their top search terms have legs.
December 12, 2008 at 7:57 am
Yeah I’ll definitely be adding the word “facebook” and related searches to my trends to watch list this year.
December 11, 2008 at 6:40 am
wow cool data… obviously political terms has to go up this year.
December 12, 2008 at 1:35 am
I agree pretty typical searches.
December 11, 2008 at 6:33 am
Thanks….Some really interesting stuff. surprising fall of the search term “hybrid car”. Thought that it should only rise more??
December 11, 2008 at 7:46 am
May be people don’t much have interest in hybrid car
December 20, 2008 at 4:39 pm
How about they make one that is not as ugly as all get out. Say for
instance the Prius!
December 22, 2008 at 1:13 am
I expected intrest in alternative fuels etc to fall as soon as gas prices started droping. we dont want to be bothered with saving the environment
December 11, 2008 at 6:18 am
I am sure that there is some statistical term which describes the drop of a spike in terms like hybrid or lay-away. That doesn’t mean interest wains, but people have just gotten the info they needed. That is, if gas was still $4 a gallon, there would still be a drop in hybrid.
Great point about Google vs. Yahoo. Miley Cyrus? Kidding me? No wonder Yahoo is on the ropes, they can’t even realize to copy Google to come up with new, relevant terms. ABC national news, last night, did a whole segment on Google’s top terms. Free marketing. Then, Yahoo gives us Britney Spears at #1. Wasn’t her kids and MTV “dance” performance last year? Thought she spent most of ‘08 in rehab or an asylum?
December 11, 2008 at 9:50 am
yea – I have to agree – I can’t believe yahoo is so behind the times in terms of something like this – it’s almost laughable
December 22, 2008 at 1:11 am
its like they don’t think at yahoo!! They had so much potential for it all to be wasted
December 11, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Well, Yahoo is Yahoo…
It’s catch up in a few years. If anyone wouldn’t want to buy it first.
December 11, 2008 at 3:26 pm
yahoo is not the best search engine in many perspectives. But there are times, when yahoo has given me better search results than google. Though very rare..
December 11, 2008 at 4:52 pm
You’re comparing apples to oranges. Google’s Fastest Rising Search Terms in 2008 should not be compared to Yahoo’s Top Searches in 2008. These are 2 different types of data. One measures increasingly popular search terms, while the other measures the top searches actual made.
Also, you have to take into consideration that these 2 search engines attract different types of users. It seems to me that Yahoo caters more to people looking for entertainment news, while Google probably appeals more to people who are doing research.
Just my 2 cents.
December 11, 2008 at 8:29 pm
I concur, but I don’t think that was the overall point? I think the argument was that yahoo didn’t even serve apples.
December 12, 2008 at 7:34 am
As jtGraphic said Yahoo had no apples. I imagine Google had the same top searches, when highlighting the year they are smart enough to give us a different top searches for the year. Which would mean that people don’t distinguish between Yahoo and Google, as one entertainment and one research. Besides, people (bulk doing searches) don’t really do “research” on the web. That’s like saying watching TV is supporting the arts.
December 20, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Guess what??
Britney is back!!!