This year, Google's annual zeitgeist – publishing the most popular searches of the year – includes the searches from 34 countries in addition to the US, Canada included.
The Canadian results are simple and relatively mundane – with Canadians typing in the names of popular web services like YouTube, Facebook and even Google itself instead of just using their eponymous URLs.
The folks at Google put a positive spin on it (from The Globe and Mail):
What may seem confusing, however, was that "Google" itself was the sixth-most-searched-for term. Which raises the question: Why are Canadians using the search engine to locate sites with seemingly simple addresses, such as facebook.com, youtube.ca and google.ca?
Apparently it's because Canadians see Google not just as a means of finding information on the Web, but also as a navigational tool that provides them with quick access to sites they frequent, similar to Internet browser bookmarks, Google Canada spokesman Andrew Swartz said.
"It's a little redundant, obviously," he said. "But clearly it happens a lot."
In any case, this behaviour is important for marketers to note – good URLs are important, but appearing in search results for your key phrase seems to be even more important.
Other items from the Canadian zeitgeist include:
Top Political Parties
1. green party
2. liberal party
3. conservative party
4. ndp
5. bloc quebecois
Top News Sources
1. cbc
2. bbc
3. ctv
4. cnn
5. global
6. fox news
7. 680news
8. google
9. yahoo
10. abc
Top Personal Electronics
1. palm treo
2. blackberry
3. sync
4. hp ipaq
5. slingbox
6. t-mobile sidekick
7. htc touch
8. iphone
9. ipod
10. tomtom
Fastest Rising
1. obama
2. kijiji
3. facebook
4. cnn
5. youtube
6. free movies
7. yahoo mail
8. koodo
9. beijing 2008
10. surf the channel