Yahoo says Britney, Google says Paris

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 04 December 2007 12:50

Your IT - Home IT

A comparison of Yahoo!7's Pulse and Google Australia's Zeitgeist probably says something about the demographics of the two search engine's user base.

While the top search on Yahoo!7 was Britney 'Whoops, I lost them again' Spears, she was beaten out by Paris 'I did not comment on drunken elephants' Hilton was the most-searched celebrity on Google's 2007 listing.

And while Victoria 'Posh Spice' Beckham just sneaked into Yahoo!7's celebrity top 10, she failed to make the cut at Google Australia. She may find some comfort in the fact that she was Googled more often than husband David 'Bend it like' Beckham. It just shows that a reunion tour can do more  for you than a transfer to a US soccer team.

Not surprisingly, the AFL and NRL topped Google's list of top Australian sports searches, but purists may be disappointed to see that the WWE took third place ahead of the Australian Open and the cricket. Soccer took the tenth spot, but the more specific A-League didn't get a look-in. As I said, put it down to demographics.

When Googlers are looking to shop, where do they go? Yes, it's to 'Go Harvey, Go Harvey, Go' Harvey Norman. Notably, most of the top 10 retail searches were for locally-owned businesses.

No surprises in the Kevin category either: new PM Kevin Rudd romped home with the top two places (Kevin 07 was second). Kevin Bloody Wilson and Kevin Sheedy were another couple of Aussie Kevins to make the list, ahead of Messrs Costner and Spacey.

And we were absolutely underwhelmed to find "Radiohead new album" was the top album search, given the amount of interest generated by our stories on this topic (one on the "pick your own price" model, and another on its success).

Figure these out: Queenslanders were more interested in cheap flights than residents of other states, but Western Australians took the gong for cheap hotels. New South Welsh looked for church, while Canberrans looked for new jobs. And while Victorians searched for cricket, Tasmanians were more interested in journalism. If you can make sense of that, please leave a comment.