Understanding Search

Say You, Say Me!  Nicole Richie and Christina Aguilera are having babies today, as people and reporters are searching for the news and jockeying for the first photos of these celebrity babies.  Guessing new fathers - Jordan Bratman and Joel Madden will be exchanging cigars tonight, while Grandpa Lionel sings “Hello” and “All Night Long”.  It’s a girl, no…it’s a boy…wait, it’s twins!  Guess the news will be here soon.  Push ladies, push!

Search Update for January 10, 2008. The wacky weather patterns in the southeast and northwest are driving much of today’s search traffic.  Nashville appears to be taking the worst of a massive thunderstorm stretching across nearly three states.  A tornado touched down near Vancouver, WA earlier today during their nasty storm.  Over 35% percent of searches for the day involved the weather in these two areas.

Mackenzie Montgomery aka WWE’s Candice Michelle and also the model for last year’s controversial Go Daddy Super Bowl commercial had multiple searches today.  Montgomery, who has also appeared in Playboy on multiple occasions, apparently is featured on a foot fetish themed website.  So, if feet are your thing, check it out!

Leading headlines on national news and online search today included a huge accident in Florida, along a stretch of Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando.  Early reports are that more than 70 vehicles were involved in the pile-up, with 40 people injured and 4 people killed.  Authorities are blaming the crash on extremely poor visibility conditions, likely due to a combination of fog mixed with smoke from brush fires.  As many as 6 semis/tractor-trailers were burned completely in this massive pileup that occured early Wednesday morning, January 9th.

The number one search for today was the term “candidate calculator” which is a site that allows you answer a quick questionnaire and then tells you which candidate’s views are closest to your own.  The New Hampshire primary is obviously making people start to think about how they will vote next November.  It appears the site featuring the candidate calculator was not expecting this high amount of traffic as it down as we speak and not allowing visitors.  If you’re interested in finding out who you might be most interested in voting for…in case you’re unsure at this point…try checking it out tomorrow here.

It’s the day before the New Hampshire caucuses and guess what people are searching for?  The Hillary Clinton crying video, Hillary tears, and Hillary cries photos.  People are just plain mean, aren’t they?

Worse yet, now that Britney Spears is out of the hospital, she’s greeted with searches like “when is britney going to die?” and “britney death watch”.  I sure hope Dr. Phil or someone can help her…or maybe even Doctor Oz.

Today in search there is a quite a commotion regarding the late Ted Ammon’s will and estate. Ted Ammon, a Wall Street big businessman, was bludgeoned to death in his East Hamptons home in October of 2001. His ex-wife, Generosa Ammon, and her husband Daniel Pelosi were both found guilty of murder. See the full story here.  Murder in the Hamptons? Who killed Ted Ammon?

After three crazy days of people furiously searching for political news and college football bowls, things calmed down a little on January 5th.  The storms that pounded California and Nevada are still getting a good deal of attention, as are quite a few older movies (apparently on TV today), and some of their “then famous” actors.  For example, there’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Master of Disguise, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Doc Hollywood, etc.  A more recent movie related search today is for The Hulk (being filmed now for June release).

The number one search for today was for Glenn Beck Surgery.  Beck has posted a YouTube video describing a yet-to-be-named hospital that apparently botched his surgery.  Beck rambles about suicidal thoughts and other side effects from his horrible encounter.  Entire story and video here.

Other heavy search traffic involved the weather in California.  A storm stretching from southern Washington to Los Angeles has been hitting the state for most of the day and flooding is very possible.  The Bay Area seems to be taking the brunt of the storm as can be seen by searches for “San Francisco weather”, “Sacramento weather” and “San Jose weather”.

Today’s search volume has been thoroughly dominated by people following the caucuses in Iowa.  Of the top 100 recent Google searches, more than 30% have been related to politics including phrases such as Super Tuesday, caucus definition, primary vs. caucus, caucus exit polls, presidential candidates, 2008 election, and so much more.

A clear winner also emerged in the ”best place to get your political coverage” category, as CNNPolitics.com and CNN Politics were both in the top 5% of all searches this evening.  And, while the caucuses were the story in Iowa and around the world, many other searches for Iowa also rose to the top, like Population of Iowa, Iowa time zone, Iowa newspaper, and Iowa Secretary of State.

The second day of 2008 brought us an interesting surprise in search.  Twelve of the top thirty searches for the day involved clothing brands and stores with the majority being women’s designer clothing.  The brand Akris alone held the number one and three positions while others like Marshall Fields, J and Company, Michael Kors, Donna Karan and Elie Tahari rounded out the top thirty.

Guessing most of these searches happened after Oprah mentioned these specific brands today.