Google Zeitgeist 2006: What It Actually Means (Hint: Not Too Much)

It turns out Google Zeitgeist, a list of popular search terms, doesn't actually tell you what the most popular searches for 2006 were. Instead, what Google meant to say was that it's a compilation of terms that were more popular this year than in 2005. So scratch my analysis last week comparing Google's searches to Yahoo's.

Basically, common and very general queries like "ebay", "games", and "dictionary" were filtered out to leave the more interesting terms. So it looks like Google's true top searches probably look a lot like AOL's, which in retrospect makes sense since Google is the leading search engine. The majority of users turn to it instinctively when they have a question, and novices probably most of all.

Technorati Tags: google, search, digital alchemy, modern day alchemist