Client News > Release

15-07-2010

Celebrity life and death dominates first half of 2010 on Google

We’re half way through 2010 and so far popular Google searches have been largely dominated by celebrity infidelity, deaths, sporting events and Glee.

Google’s Insights for Search tool shows that the fastest rising online searches were around the deaths of designer Alexander McQueen, actor Corey Hiam and TV and radio presenter Gerry Ryan. The sudden passing of the broadcasting legend Gerry Ryan in April sparked a 1,150% increase in searches for “Gerry Ryan” making it the fastest rising search term in Ireland over the past six months. In the weeks following his death searches increased by over 3750%.

On a lighter note the musical phenomenon Glee burst onto Irish television screens this year and its popularity is reflected on the web as fans searching for information increased its popularity on Google by 1050% over the past six months.

Industry experts have been telling us that more and more TV is being consumed online. By looking at Insights for Search we can see that both the RTE Player service and American television website TV Shack ranked highly among the most popular searches.

The Irish are big sport enthusiasts as the increase in online searches for Winter Olympics, Cheltenham, the 6 nations and Wimbledon indicate, but it was the World Cup that really captured our interest as it was the third fastest rising search over the last six months.

Ryanair.ie dominated the fastest rising searches for the last six months ranking fourth in the fastest rising searches. Were online users booking a cheap getaway or trying to come to terms with the possibility of standing seats? If we look at related searches from April to June we see that searches were also dominated by IAA, Dublin airport, Cork airport and Irish Ferries so the impact of the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud which grounded flights is clear as travellers searched online for updates on air travel and alternative travelling arrangements. The ash cloud also ranked as the top search term in Google News from January to June.

Our fascination with the lives of celebrity and their marriages made Ashley Cole and Ronan Keating the fastest rising searches in February and May this year.

Finding relatives in Ireland at the turn of the century proved extremely popular amongst Irish people trying to trace their genealogy and helped to make the 1901 census the fastest growing search term in Ireland for the month of June.

Among the most recent popular product searches on Google are the iPhone 4, the HTC Desire and the iPad. Other popular products include running shoes, binoculars and sleeping bags.

If you want to come up with your own lists or graphs, we encourage you to play around with our public Google Insights for Search tool.

Fastest Rising Searches in Ireland January – June 2010

Gerry Ryan +1,150%

Glee +1050%

World Cup 2010 +700%

Ryanair.ie +650%

RTE Player +250%

YouTube music +100%

Facebook login +70%

Hotmail sign in +70%

NCT +70%

TV Shack +70%

Top Fastest Rising Search in Ireland

January Haiti +Breakout

February Ashley Cole +2000%

March Cheltenham +700%

April Gerry Ryan +3750%

May Ronan Keating +2600%

June 1901 Census +1650%

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