For Kiwis, October was a month of ghosts, hobbits, horses and Henrys according to the most popular searches on google.co.nz last month.A spike in Paul Henry-related searches following his resignation from TVNZ saw him feature on both the fastest rising web searches and fastest rising news searches lists. Sheila Dikshit, the Indian politician at the centre of the Henry saga, was also a popular search term during October – featuring at number three in the fastest rising news searches.‘Halloween’ and ‘Melbourne Cup’ are popular search terms every October, so it’s no surprise to see them making an appearance in October’s top searches. Also top of mind were ‘Hobbit’, ‘Election Results’ and ‘Silver Ferns’, reflecting the other big current affairs stories dominating the headlines throughout the month.As the end of the year is quickly sneaking up, we’ll soon be starting to put together the top Google searches of 2010. These lists always provide an intriguing insight into what’s been on the minds of Kiwis throughout the year so we look forward to sharing them with you!NZ’s fastest rising web searches, October1. Halloween2. www.fishforprizes.co.nz3. Commonwealth Games 20104. Commonwealth Games5. Paul HenryNZ’s fastest rising web searches, last 7 days1. Auckland Marathon2. Melbourne Cup 20103. Melbourne Cup4. Leonard Cohen5. HalloweenNZ’s fastest rising news searches, October1. Election results2. Paul Henry3. Sheila Dikshit4. Silver Ferns5. Hobbit
Worldwide fastest rising news searches, October1. Cliff Lee2. Sarah Scazzie3. Mortgage and foreclosures4. Jon Stewart5. Brett Favre
Worldwide fastest rising news searches, last 7 days
1. Charlie Sheen2. Kirchner3. Tsunami4. Jon Stewart5. Merapi
Posted by Corri McKenzie, Google NZ
A few weeks ago we introduced a new way of searching that makes search more interactive and helps you find information more quickly and easily. We called it Google Instant, and today we are excited to be rolling out Instant in New Zealand.Google Instant combines three core features -- dynamic results, Autocomplete predictions, and ‘scroll-to-search’ functionality -- to deliver smart, predictive results as you type. Here's a video that explains Google Instant in greater depth:
In the month since our initial release, we extended Instant to Google Books, Videos, Blogs and Updates, and launched keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate through search results. We have also learned more about how people are using Instant, and although it is still early days, we wanted to share some of those findings.People are learning to use Instant. In just two weeks, we saw an increase in the fraction of searches performed without hitting enter or clicking search. People are used to searching on Google by hitting enter or clicking “search,” but we’ve been happy to see that people are quickly adjusting to the new experience.Search is getting more interactive. We’ve seen about a 7% increase in on-the-fly editing of search queries. Instant isn’t just about time savings, it’s also a new, more fluid way to search. We’ve seen people reformulating their queries more. As you type, you see search results, and often those results can inspire you to type better search terms.People are making the extra effort to use Instant. In just one week, we saw an increase in the relative number of search sessions starting on the Google homepage, likely because they want to use Instant. Google Instant currently only works on the Google homepage and results page, not in other places such as browser search boxes, the Google Toolbar, and the Chrome Omnibox. As people have learned about Google Instant, many seem to be searching more on the homepage in order to use the feature.We are thrilled to be bringing Google Instant to New Zealand, and we look forward to hearing what you think.
Posted by Jonathan Effrat, Product Manager
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