Posted by Curtis Dueck on December 16th, 2006
With the holiday season now clearly upon us, it seems that Christmas is on everyone’s mind. It’s actually very difficult to escape, assuming you’d even want to!
This week, I decided to take a look at the topics and ideas emerging from online Christmas searches to see how people’s internet search behaviour reflects society’s most prevalent web-related Christmas thoughts. Are people thinking about Santa, baby Jesus, Christmas crafts & decorations, a favourite recipe, or what?
The following chart shows the most popularly searched concepts within the top several thousand search phrases that include the word “Christmas”:
Please click here for an expanded list of Christmas wishes as expressed in internet search.
Without surprise, online Christmas searches center around such popular topics as gifts, trees, food, and carols. I find each of these reports very interesting, reminding me how my own views on Christmas are just one of a million possible perspectives on the holiday season. Whichever of these thoughts you choose to focus on this holiday season, best wishes & happy holidays from everyone at Epiar!
Epiar Inc. is an Edmonton-based internet market research and search engine optimization company. Please contact us for more information or to commission your own research reports.
Posted by Curtis Dueck on October 15th, 2006
One of the finest joys of performing advanced keyword research (looking into the hearts and minds of our society by probing millions of unique search phrases) is encountering the stream of absolutely ridiculous phrases that people are, for one reason or another, entering into search engines.
Over the course of the past year, I have begun documenting several of the most absurd of these search phrases. In fact, the coil-bound notebook that sits beside my monitor has become one of the strangest and most curious books I have encountered - strange because of the very human reality behind each new entry.
What does it mean when significant numbers of people all search for the same bizarre topic? What thoughts and situations give rise to someone entering these phrases in the first place? If thinking about the individuals and real-life situations that create these search statistics don’t make you smile or shake your head in wonder, I can’t imagine what will!
Bizarre Phrases that People Actually Type into Search Engines*:
* using Wordtracker data spanning August 2005 – October 2006
Creative Home Projects:
- how to build a catapult (searched 230 times per day)
- how to eat fried worms (696)
- how to make a toga (448)
People Still Learning the Basics:
- what is history (205)
- open a beer bottle (22)
- when did christianity start (61)
- what is a search engine (276)
Huh??
- box full of sharp objects (185)
- insanity test (322)
- monkey business (195)
Self-Help Dieticians:
- how to gain weight (407)
- how to be anorexic (193)
- beer into g feeding tube (15)
- how to make moonshine (173)
Health:
- self injury tricks (27)
- can stress cause hives (90)
- pictures of scurvy (40)
- donate a testicle (193)
Searches by Animal Lovers:
- realistic stuffed shih tzus (36)
- fainting goat video (28)
- exploding whale (156)
- bear vs shark (72)
- biggest bear ever (54)
People Hoping Search Data Stays Anonymous Forever:
- guide to stretch your anus (153)
- men in panties (1611)
- hairy oshawa women (6)
- pull my finger (186)
- atomic wedgie (298)
The Search Continues…
- loch ness monster (2044)
- ghost pictures (1209)
- real ghosts (337)
- pirate treasure maps (275)
- proof that elvis is alive (18)
- ufo sightings (705)
Conclusive proof that the truth is stranger than fiction? Who enters all these phrases anyway?
Epiar Inc. is an Edmonton-based internet market research and search engine optimization company. Please contact us for more information or to commission your own research reports.
Posted by Curtis Dueck on September 9th, 2006
We know that bloggers love them, that readers skim them, and that social tagging sites promote them, but which “Top 10″ lists does the public really want to see? Which “Top 10’s” are people looking for the most when using search engines?
Just for fun, recent research by Epiar looked into these questions, hoping to settle the matter once and for all (and to provide blog-post ideas for creatively-challenged writers!)
The Web’s Top Ten Top 10’s: (try saying that 10 times quickly…)
- Top ten baby names
- Top ten girls names
- Top 10
- Top ten
- Top 10 songs
- Top ten search engines
- Top 10 celebrity websites
- Top ten songs
- Top ten wedding songs
- Top 10 pop songs
…and following close behind:
- Top 10 baby names
- Top 10 travel destinations
- Top ten lists
- Top 10 cult movies
- Top 10 movies
- Top 10 home based business
- Top 10 rap songs
- Top 10 franchises
- Top 10 home based businesses
- Top 10 antivirus software products
- Top ten movies
- Top 10 digital cameras
- Top ten baby names uk
- Top 10 xbox games
- Top ten travel destinations
- Top 10 horror movies
- Top 10 lists
- Top 10 search engines
- Top ten boys names
- Top 10 best used cars
Numbers 3 and 4 raise an interesting question: Top Ten/10 what?
If I was in the travel business, guess what new weekly feature I’d include on my home page? (# 12 or 25)
Composition of the “Top 10″ Long Tail
Taking a closer look at over 6000 phrases included in this study, certain words and themes appeared quite prominently in the long tail of public search demand. Although I was surprised to find the dominance of searches for baby girl and boy names, more predictable pop-culture topics also figured heavily in “Top 10″ searches:
For a full list of the searches included in this study, check out the complete Top 6000 “Top 10″ Lists.
While research like this may be more entertaining than practical (unless anyone feels like writing 6000 new blog posts?), it sure is fun to see what people are looking for!
Epiar Inc. is an Edmonton-based internet market research and search engine optimization company. Please contact us for more information or to commission your own research reports.
