The following list shows how news search differ from web search.
Here are the top searches in 2006 on Google News:
1. paris Hilton
2. orlando bloom
3. cancer
4. podcasting
5. hurricane katrina
6. bankruptcy
7. martina hingis
8. autism
9. 2006 nfl draft
10. celebrity big brother 2006
Now, compare the list above with the one below for the top searches in 2006 on Google:
1. bebo
2. myspace
3. world cup
4. metacafe
5. radioblog
6. wikipedia
7. video
8. rebelde
9. mininova
10. wiki
Here’s Yahoo’s list of top news search terms for 2006:
1. Steve Irwin death
2. Anna Nicole’s son dies
3. Iraq
4. Israel and Lebanon
5. U.S. elections
6. Fidel Castro stroke
7. North Korea Nuke
8. Jonbenet confession
9. Saddam Hussein trial
10. Danish Cartoon
Here’s Yahoo’s list of top 10 web search terms for 2006:
1. Britney Spears
2. WWE
3. Shakira
4. Jessica Simpson
5. Paris Hilton
6. American Idol
7. Beyonce Knowles
8. Chris Brown
9. Pamela Anderson
10. Lindsay Lohan
The top 10 news topics at AOL News for 2006 were:
1. Gas prices
2. Steve Irwin
3. Immigration
4. Bird flu
5. Iraq
6. Natalee Holloway
7. Debra Lafave
8. Rush Limbaugh
9. Lebanon
10. Hurricane Katrina
Contrast that with AOL’s list of the top 10 web search terms for the year:
1. Weather
2. Dictionary
3. Dogs
4. American Idol
5. Maps
6. Cars
7. Games
8. Tattoo
9. Horoscopes
10. Lyrics
So, why do top news search terms differ so often from top web search terms?
One possible explanation might be demographics and/or psychographics.