Google has released its annual Zeitgeist report into the UK’s search habits online browsing habits, listing the terms most commonly searched on its site this year.
The lists are collated in an attempt to give a snapshot of the country’s online interests.
According to the Google Zeitgeist 2010, the webcam chat site Chatroulette was the UK’s fastest rising search term, while tickets to see the re-formed band Take That were the most commonly searched in their category.
Perhaps reflecting the higher voter turnout at this year’s general election than in 2005, the top two searches in the news category were “election 2010” and “register to vote”.
The top overall searches, however, were dominated by the big sites; the top three are “Facebook”, “BBC” and “Youtube”.
“Zeitgeist means ‘the spirit of the times’ and we strive to capture this spirit through exploring the year’s new and exciting search terms,” said a Google spokesman, adding: “Searches for adult keywords are pretty constant, and although unquestionably popular, we don’t think they define the Zeitgeist for any one year.”
The data, collected anonymously, counts the overall most popular as well as fast-rising search queries typed into the Google.co.uk search box.
Other trends include an apparent keen interest in the divorce of Cheryl and Ashley Cole, which outstripped the concern for the end of Tiger Woods’ marriage to Elen Nordegren.
There was also a large rise in the number of people searching for information about Kristian Digby, the BBC presenter who died in mysterious circumstances, and about the US teen singer Justin Bieber.
Google has released its Zeitgeist lists of the most searched for and fastest rising terms in the UK in 2010.
The biggest searches in any given year tend to be people typing in the name of the website they want to go to and clicking on the link rather than typing in the full url.
To that end, Facebook tops the list for 2010, followed by the BBC, YouTube, Hotmail, Ebay and of course, Google.
The remainder of the top ten is made up of ‘you’ ‘games’ ‘mail’ and ‘news’.
Fastest rising
Of much more interest are the fastest rising searches, which really get to the heart of what the UK has been interested this year.
Chatoulette tops the list, with Formspring, a service that lets you ask questions of your friends through social networking sites, in second place.
iPad is the third most popular term, wth teen pop star Justin Bieber in fourth.
The World Cup in the summer picked up the fifth spot, with FB, Santander, Hotmail sign in, YouTube and weather service Metcheck in tenth place.
Fastest rising searches of 2010
Chatroulette
Formspring
iPad
Justin Bieber
World Cup 2010
FB
Santander
Hotmail Sign in
Youtube
Metcheck
Top news and current events
Election 2010
Register to vote
David Cameron
Rail strike
Daily mail showbiz
Liberal democrat
Elections results
Labour party
Conservative party
Alex Jones
Fastest rising people
kristian digby
justin bieber
nicki minaj
ellie goulding
alexander mcqueen
kesha
miranda kerr
kim kardashian
katy perry
enrique iglesias
Top divorces
cheryl cole divorce
benny hinn divorce
tiger woods divorce
eva longoria divorce
susanna reid divorce
carol kirkwood divorce
bam margera divorce
claudia winkleman divorce
avril lavigne divorce
hulk hogan divorce
Top tickets
take that tickets
lion king tickets
wimbledon tickets
michael buble tickets
london eye tickets
lady gaga tickets
thorpe park tickets
glastonbury tickets
wicked tickets
olympics 2012 tickets
Bargain hunting (top cheap searches 2010)
cheap flights
cheap holidays
cheap train tickets
cheap car insurance
cheap smells
cheap hotels
cheap laptops
cheap holiday deals
cheap travel insurance
cheap rail tickets
Fastest rising lyrics
no love lyrics
carry out lyrics
airplane lyrics
starry eyed lyrics
unthinkable lyrics
california girls lyrics
crossfire lyrics
rude boy lyrics
mine lyrics
the cave lyrics
“i love” searches (fastest rising)
i love dance
i love coco
i love bass
i love hoodies
i love football
“i hate” searches (fastest rising)
i hate mountains
i hate snow
i hate football
i hate mum
i hate love
“i want” searches (fastest rising)
i want popcorn
i want love
i want out
i want you
i want money
“who is” searches (fastest rising)
who is salt
who is shawty
who is fonejacker
who is technoviking
who is banksy
i feel (fastest rising)
i feel better
i feel free
i feel depressed
i feel lonely
i feel fat
2010 overall most searched
Facebook
BBC
Youtube
Hotmail
Ebay
Google
you
games
mail
news
Top food and drink
Tesco
Recipes
ASDA
Pizza
Wine
Sainsburys
Jamie Oliver
Morrisons
Cakes
Curry
High street most searched
argos
tesco
next
asda
john lewis
new look
asos
river island
debenhams
marks and spencer
Read the full Google Zeitgeist worldwide report here.
