Land of The Rising Search Terms

Google presented the search terms with the highest growth in volume from 1 January to end of June 2011. These search terms reflect seasonal trends and highlights in current events. I made a list of the translations with a short explanation. Check them out:

1. Nuclear power plant - No explanation needed.
2. Galaxy S2 - Google may be proud that the Android-driven device is so popular. See also my previous post.
3. iPad2 - Apple's tablet doing a good job. Don't forget about the option to target tablets seperately.
4. tilt - Apparently, if you search for 'tilt' on your mobile device you'll get a tilted Google search results screen. Funny way to get some extra traffic! Also, it goes to show how large mobile search is in Japan.
5. Geiger counter - For obvious reasons.
6. Cesium - A chemical element related to the 3/11 disasters.
7. Power Saving - As I wrote earlier, saving energy is big in Japan.
8. Yoshiko Tanaka - Member of the pop group Candies, who passed away on 21 April 2011. Received great attention from the media, and sympathy from the Japanese people in general, when she released her final words to the public which includes a message of support to the people in the Tohoku region.
9. Rikuzentakata - City in the north badly hit by the disasters. Made famous in the west by horrific images.
10. Radioactive material - Again, people searched for information related to the disaster.

So, understandably, the triple disaster in the north of Japan had a huge impact on the search landscape. My predictions for the second half of 2011?

• Google+
• Galaxy S3
• iPad4

I am quite sure these will be in the next top 10. Seeing the current developments of tablets other than the iPad, probably some new tablet or app will make it there as well. In any case, hopefully we will see an entirely different kind of top 10 than the first half.

 

The tilted screen when you search for 'tilt'.

Picture from livedoor.jp