Google and other search engines publish every year a list of the most popular searches, but it's not always clear how it's compiled. This year, Google explained the methodology:
"To compile the 2009 Year-End Zeitgeist, we studied the aggregation of billions of queries people typed into Google search this year. We use data from multiple sources, including Insights for Search, Google Trends and internal data tools. We also filter out spam and repeat queries to build out lists that best reflect the spirit of the times. In some cases, we list the fastest rising queries, which means we found the most popular searches conducted in 2009 and then ranked them based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2008."
"To compile the 2009 Year-End Zeitgeist, we studied the aggregation of billions of queries people typed into Google search this year. We use data from multiple sources, including Insights for Search, Google Trends and internal data tools. We also filter out spam and repeat queries to build out lists that best reflect the spirit of the times. In some cases, we list the fastest rising queries, which means we found the most popular searches conducted in 2009 and then ranked them based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2008."
