Just a Google away

Got a question? Chances are you’re already typing it in Google’s trusty search bar.

Trawling billions of URLs on the web at once, Google announced a milestone achievement earlier this year when its systems, which process links on the internet to find new content, hit 1 trillion unique URLs simultaneously. That’s a lot of information – and all of it accessible through Google Search.

Reflecting the success of its Search service, Google releases an annual Zeitgeist (a German word that means ‘the spirit of the times’) that highlights the top search trends of the year and offers an insight into exactly what’s on everyone’s mind.

This year, current affairs and news dominated the world of search, but social networking and entertainment also topped the charts.

Some of the fastest rising queries globally included Sarah Palin, the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Euro 2008, Obama, and Facebook login. While most of these seem fairly common, Tuenti and Nasza Klasa and Wer Kennt Wen also made the list - all three are social networking websites from EU countries. If anything, it makes 2008 seem like the year of networking online or at least learning more about it.

In the United States, queries related to technology made its mark where the top ten ‘what is…’ questions that people asked Google included: What is Java, What is RSS, What is SAP and What is 3g.

It’s great to find out that people are genuinely interested in learning more about new technologies as it leads to greater understanding and growth for the industry as a whole.

Closer to home, the most popular search terms from people in the United Arab Emirates were related directly to the country itself - i.e. Dubai, UAE and The Emirates.

Other top local queries that made the list included Toys, Images, News, Songs, YouTube and Games. While these might not seem very interesting, it does prove that a majority of people in the UAE are turning to the internet as a resource for news and entertainment information.

That’s not likely to change as internet penetration increases in the country. A study published earlier this year by research firm 6th Dimension TNS showed that 67% of the country’s population use the internet, with 55% using the medium daily.

As the world feels the brunt of the economic downturn, people from the United Arab Emirates turned to Google for answers to their money worries, The top ten most popular search terms related to the economy included Inflation, Recession, Oil, IMF and Gold Price. The World Economy and specific country economies of Kuwait, UAE, India and Japan also made the top ten.

Regardless of the financial crunch, it seems people in the country still want to enjoy a good meal and are feeding their gluttonous curiosity with Google. A few of the fastest rising restaurant queries from the UAE include Al Mahara Restaurant, Teatro, Bice, Zuma, Al Mahara Restaurant, Caravan Restaurant and More Café.

Another revealing list is the UAE’s fastest rising queries of famous individuals where local personalities like Sheikh Nasser Bin Zayed, Tamer Husni, Rashid Al Majid, Elissa, Al Afassi and Fairuz topped alongside international celebrities Heath Ledger, Obama, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus. It shows a good mix of interests that go beyond just the Arab world.

With the internet bringing the world closer, Google is likely to continue its reign in the world of search for some time to come, or at least until its closest competitor catches up. Don’t know who I’m talking about? Google it.