Google releases New Zealand's top searched terms of 2008

Today Google released statistics for the top searched terms in NZ over the past year. It makes some interesting reading, but not always in a good way. The sixth most popular search on Google was for - wait for it - google. Elsewhere, we were keen on Australian jobs, rugby tickets, detox diets, John Key and Fred Dagg's gumboot song.

By Ted Gibbons / Wednesday, December 03 2008

Because people use Google to search for what's new and interesting, trends in search terms are a good reflection of what's been on everybody's minds this year.

The year's fastest rising search was for the Olympics, reflecting the strong performance of New Zealand athletes in Beijing. But, showing that New Zealanders are into brain as well as brawn, the large hadron collider and 'mathletics' also made the top 20.

In the case of head-to-head comparisons between some of our best-known New Zealanders, current 'it' girl Hayley Holt pips our first supermodel Rachel Hunter as we close out 2008, and John Key saw his search volumes soar upon his election, after languishing behind Helen Clark, Barack Obama and Sarah Palin for much of the year. And people rushed to Google to ask "who is Owen Glenn?", after he found himself attached to Winston Peters in a political scandal.

Enjoy reading and analysing these results – visit www.google.com/zeitgeist to put together your own lists.

Top 10 searches on google.co.nz in 2008
1. games
2. bebo
3. youtube
4. trademe
5. lyrics
6. google
7. map
8. hotmail
9. tv
10. weather
Fastest rising searches of 2008
1. olympics
2. facebook
3. youtube
4. lotto
5. wiki
6. seek
7. miniclip
8. asb
9. tvnz
10. large hadron collider
11. heath ledger
12. obama
13. gossip girl
14. jonas brothers
15. miley cyrus
16. euro 2008
17. mathletics
Most popular 'who is' searches for 2008
1. who is the stig
2. who is the leader
3. who is obama
4. who is [in] parliament
5. who is miley cyrus
6. who is [the] governor general
7. who is [the] minister of education
8. who is valerie vili
9. who is god
10. who is owen glenn
Most popular 'tickets' searches for 2008
1. rugby tickets
2. all blacks tickets
3. warriors tickets
4. chris brown tickets
5. sevens tickets
6. cricket tickets
7. big day out tickets
8. rihanna tickets
9. super 14 tickets
10. westlife tickets
Most popular 'died' searches for 2008 (or rumours of)
1. heath ledger died
2. ishmeet died
3. soulja boy died*
4. bob marley died**
5. bernie mac died
6. sir edmund hillary died
7. freddy mercury died**
8. miley cyrus died*
9. elvis presley died**
10. steve irwin died**
*still very much alive
**died before 2008

Most popular celebrities searched in 2008
1. chris brown
2. obama
3. miley cyrus
4. rihanna
5. heath ledger
6. britney spears
7. sir edmund hillary
8. leona lewis
9. amy winehouse
10. lauren conrad
Most popular 'restaurants' searches for 2008
1. valentines
2. orbit
3. sails
4. wildfire
5. chow
6. yellow
7. harbourside
8. euro
9. merediths
10. soul
Most popular 'diets' searches for 2008
1. detox diet
2. lemon diet
3. free diet
4. soup diet
5. atkins diet
6. diet recipes
7. low carb diet
8. healthy diet
9. blood type diet
10. gluten free diet
Most popular 'Australia' searches in 2008
1. australia jobs
2. australia map
3. flights australia
4. ebay australia
5. white pages australia
6. australia weather
7. australia immigration
8. dance australia
9. australia news
10. real estate australia
Most popular 'john' searches in 2008
1. john key
2. st john
3. elton john
4. john cena
5. john deere
6. john mayer
7. john mccain
8. john lennon
9. john paul
10. dr john
Most popular 'gumboot' searches in 2008
1. gumboot song
2. the gumboot
3. taihape gumboot day
4. gumboot rack
5. gumboot dancing
6. gumboot throwing
7. fred dagg gumboot
8. gumboot tea
9. blue gumboot
10. golden gumboot
Head to head match-ups