Top Google Searches Teach Us About Search Tendencies

I guess you could consider these terms very competitive keywords.  Google has released its annual Zeitgeist of search data.

The fastest rising term is “Michael Jackson.”  Definitely not surprising.  You still can’t go very far without seeing or hearing something about the deceased singer.

This information is interesting because it tells you how people search.  For example, most of the most-searched terms are news-related events.  In addition to Jackson, “New Moon,” “Lady Gaga” and “Windows 7” are all within the top ten terms.

However, you’ll also find a lot of social networking.  Facebook and Twitter are there, along with Spanish social networking site Tuenti.

What’s interesting about that is that those terms show up at all.

Facebook and Twitter have very easy to remember domain names (Facebook.com and Twitter.com respectively.)  You would assume that anyone who knew the name of the service would also know the domain.  However, people seem to still prefer to search for the terms on Google.  Likely Google is their homepage or they are using a toolbar in their browser to search, or they trust Google more than they trust themselves.

It’s interesting and it shows how dependent people are on search engines.  Even when they know the name of the website they want, they’re still using a search engine to find it.  If people are using Google to find known services, they’re definitely using it to find pretty much everything they’re looking for online.

That is why search engine optimization is so important.  Even if someone has been to your site before and enjoyed it, there’s a very good chance they will be heading back to Google the next time they want your site.  And if they’re not able to find it easily, they could head somewhere else pretty quickly.

Optimizing your website for search engines is one of the best business moves you can make.  The bottom line is that people need to be able to find your web page.  Since Google is becoming a bigger part of more lives every day it just makes sense to optimize your site for Google searchers.