About Zeitgeist – Each year Google gathers a list of the top search queries from their users in the US and 50 countries worldwide. The list is called, “Zeitgeist,” which comes from German meaning, “The spirit of the times.” The annual Zeitgeist report reveals what captured the world’s attention in the past year—our passions, interests and defining moments as seen through search.
What did the world search for in 2012?
2012 was a year of big moments, from global games to historical elections and everything in between. With this site, we’ve analyzed over one trillion queries to showcase what the world searched for.
1.2 trillion searches.
146 languages.
Watch the Year In Review
- Google Trends – For a broad look at search query data, enter up to five search terms to see relative popularity over time. You can use Trends to compare terms in any language from any country—the interface is currently available in U.S. English, Chinese and Japanese.
- Trends for Websites – Google Trends for website traffic data. Type in a website address to see visitors by region and related sites visited. Currently available in U.S. English only.
- Insights for Search – A closer look at search query data for power users. Create your own lists of “most popular” and “fastest rising” queries for different geographic regions over time and by topic. Insights for Search is available in 40 languages.
- Hot Trends (India, Japan, Singapore and U.S. only) – The top 40 fastest-rising search queries right now, updated continuously throughout the day.
Find Your Trends
There are a couple Google products that you can use to see your own search trends.
If you’ve chosen to enable “Web History” in your Google Account, you can get an interesting glimpse at your own web activity, such as top queries and peak activity over time. To try it out, go to your accounts page, on the landing screen, select “go to web history”. From here you can explore your web, image, and even your shopping search history . This might not account for all of your web activity, but it can be a fun look back at your query and browsing history over time.
If you use Google Reader to read blogs and RSS feeds, you can view your reading trends by going to the “Trends” tab under “All items” in the lefthand menu.
Related post: Google Search Zeitgeist 2012
Hm. I didn’t see Mark Armstrong Illustration or One Cool Site mentioned, so I suspect the whole thing may be bogus… : P
Have you seen those new keyboard umbrellas? I’ve asked Santa to bring you one… : )
Ha! ha! ha! I don’t need a keyboard umbrella I need to break the habit of sipping tea at my computer desk. The keyboard was easy to deal with. I had to use a hair drier to get the moisture out of my mouse so it would work again. My concern isn’t about them it’s about the cdrive on my computer.
I have been having trouble with my reader and yours and other blogs have disappeared, I have re-followed you and hopefully that will work.
Very interesting post…
I hope it does work. My reader is working but my keyboard and mouse are another story. I spilled hot tea all over them. The computer shop will not open until the 28th and that’s when my old data gets moved into my new computer. I’m limping along as best I can but it’s a PITA.
Oh no TT, I’m sorry to hear that–How frustrating.
Well, the good news is that my new computer is programmed and ready to go minus the data transfer. I also have a new keyboard and mouse I will be using when the data transfer is done. Can you tell I’m trying to focus on the positive? lol :D
Yes! Embrace the positive! Good for you…
If I don’t get another chance before then, I just want to wish you a very merry Christmas! :)
Thanks you so much. I want to wish you the same. May you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year too.
Very interesting…especially the google search terms/trends…interesting to see variations from year to year and month to month…one cool link!
I think it’s cool ie. fascinating too.
well packed, documented. better than last year :)
I agree with you. It’s getting better every year.
How after all this time have I never heard of this before? There you go, good vid.
Jim
I’m happy to know your didn’t know about this before.
Wow. That clip was great. I loved that so much of it was positive when we see so much that is negative on our televisions and in the media. Thanks for sharing this. I’m going to share it some more – on my facebook page.
You are right on. So much of what is happening is positive yet our minds dwell on the negative.