Google Zeitgeist top 10 / 2009 in Finland
Google Zeitgeist lists again the trends around the world based on search queries.
In Finland the top 10 list looks a little weird:
- youtube
- iltalehti
- ilta-sanomat
- irc
- suomi24
- nettiauto
- mtv3
- hotmail
- gmail
All these queries are also popular web sites (#5 means probably Irc-Galleria). It is clear that a lot of people in Finland, and around the world too, use the built in search field in browsers to find their favourite web site.
Why?
First thing that comes in mind tells me that URLs are too cryptic and difficult to type correctly even when they are actually really simple. It is easier to type your popular search query and get a list of links of which you may choose the one pointing to your desired destination.
This is assumedly one reason why Google abandoned the separate search field in Chrome and decided to use a combined search and address field. It does not matter if you’re writing the URL or the search terms. You’ll get your results anyway.
It’s amazing how many people have Google as their startpage and actually type the name of the web site they are going to into the search box of Google. Like ‘facebook’.
It’s not only a matter of remembering the addresses but the ease of just start typing into the autofocus window instead of first going to address bar.
(C’mon people, learn the shortcuts like Alt+D! If not for any other reason, do it at least for environmental reasons: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5489134.ece)
Also one other explanation might be that people use the suggestion feature quite much. This way you would always get YouTube as a suggestion when you type “you”…. but does Google record this as “you” or “YouTube”?
If I were Google I would always record only the actually typed letters. Then I would have a separate recording system in place for tracking the suggestions.