Insights from 2009’s Top Search Terms

It’s quite interesting to see what’s on the minds of Americans. Actually, it’s quite interesting to have readily accessible and inexpensive (free) tools, such as Google Trends, to see what’s on the minds of Americans. Why should we care? Trend spotting and observing the mindset of our fellow human beings helps us gauge the mood of the country which can affect the tonality of our advertising messaging.

We can develop better campaigns, products and services addressing those things that are deemed ‘hot’ and drop those that are ‘not.’ From a personal standpoint, viewing these search trends help us gauge our own sense of priorities in relation to others’. So what were these search terms that shaped our behavior in 2009? Read on and help me project the top searches for 2010.

What’s hot! Social media was all-the-buzz at the start of 2009 with many Chicago professional organizations seeing sell-out meetings when social media was the keynote presentation.

Twitter had the most searches as indexed against other popular searches, and Facebook continued with a healthy dose of users gaining entry to their Facebook page by typing the URL in the Google Search window instead of typing it in browser’s location bar. (Somebody needs to perform a behavioral study on why people do this). In 2009 we were captivated by the death and celebration of Michael Jackson; watching delayed TV programming at one’s convenience on the Internet than bound to a network schedule; the TV series Paranormal Activity spawned renewed interest in the otherworldly; and Lady Gaga was being sought out for her talent or her controversy.

What’s not! Equally interesting are those things fading from view in 2009.

The Presidential politics including John McCain, Sarah Palin, Ron Paul and Barack Obama.

Looking through these lists gives you a good idea of our interests and eccentricities. Our ambitions to climb, race, eat, travel, and… Voodoo doughnuts?

Really! On Google Maps? Voodoo doughnuts?

In locally generated Chicago searches, CTA debuted its online bus tracker website to help frustrated bus riders better determine how fast they have to leave Starbucks to catch a ride to work. I use it all the time and find it comforting to know the bus I just missed will be followed up by another, or not. There was sufficient interest in this website it was the 5^th most searched site via mobile search. The relevancy is obvious. That enough Chicagoans searched on it and didn’t bookmark for future reference was quite interesting.