Where can I find the most popular search phrases?

To answer this particular question, I started searching for the best ways to discover what information and data people in the world are searching for day by day (searching for searching, LOL). What I found can probably be applied to any of the thousands of search engines in use today, but I thought I would list the major items I discovered and hope you enjoy them.

In addition to all of the links below, I have listed other of my own suggestions on doing effective searches from my research and writing work, and I've included them for eveyone to access and use. They are not all-inclusive, so please add them in the Comments section or your own Hub Page on the topic if you have more.

I found a few of the following suggestions on Search Engine Watch and I found others simply by looking at search results generated by different search engines. Probably there are a lot more sites you can visit to discover search trends around the world.

• AOL Hot Searches: Top searches and searches in the last hour, day, or certain category.
• Dogpile SearchSpy: Top searches, filterer or unfiltered.
• Associated site MetaCrawler offers MetaCrawler MetaSpy service.
• Google Adwords from the Google Keyword Tool Box
• Google Keyword Toobox: Enter terms and a drop-down box shows their popularity.
• Google Trends: View search trends by time period, by city, by country, by region, by language, etc.. Compare multiple terms, as well.
• Google Zeitgeist: Searches at Google and its specialty services like Google Products, Google Scholar, etc. Available in different languages/countries.
• Lycos 50: Top searches weekly.
• Yahoo Buzz Index: Postive and negative trends in searches.
• dWoz Search Phrase Lists and Search Spies & Voyeurs.

Install the Google Toolbar. It's great for research, social book marking and a lot more.

http://toolbar.google.com/

Learn to do targeted Google searches.

Use a URL restriction if it is applicable and Google will only return results that have a specific URL like in:

Site: org, site:edu, site:gov, site:www.ed.gov

Use quotation marks around your search phrase to make sure you get that phrase in results. It is vital to earmark the obscure key terms/phrases on a topic and search for them, such as:

"Human cloning", "genetic distribution", "gobal warming site:edu" "jobs site:gov"

Use negative qualifiers to eliminate irrelevant results. If you don't want results pdf files, type

-filetype:pdf

Use very specific phrases -- If you want information on "water rights", then you'll likely get a host of useless info. If you type "riparian rights", you get more accurate legal and historical info.

Use Table of Contents, Glossaries, and Index pages for documents and books that turn up in your Internet searches. Amazon.com even features "Look Inside the book" where you can access these things online for some publications they sell.

This is a fantastic place to fine many online glossaries: http://www.glossarist.com/

Also use Google like this:

define: human cloning

The links that Google provides may reveal glossaries and other materials mor than one layer deep in Internet links.

Different search results.

For slides and presentations, add "ppt" for powerpoint, like:

"human cloning" ppt site:edu

Government and Academic sources:

"Human cloning" site:gov

"Human cloning " site:edu

Look for notes and lecture:

"Human cloning " site:edu notes

"Human cloning " site:edu lecture

If an URL includes course not info like:

/professorname/coursenumber/lecture05.html

change it to "lecture09.html" or "lecture01.html" or whatever number to see what is there.

If you use only

/professorname/coursenumber/

You might find the course directory and lots of notes.

Look for practice test problems and questions on any topic:

"global warming test questions"

Use a "+" sign before a commonly used word:

"study +of human cloning"

This forces the search engine to look for "study of human cloning."

Go several levels down into page links. After you find a major website, refine your Google search to look for specific pages like this:

site:www.ed.gov "human cloning"

Don't go to "sponsored links and ads" that cost money to access, unless you are out to buy something.

DMOZ.org is a great info source.

Don't keep failing! If a certain phrase isn't working change it. Use synonyms or even antonyms (opposites). Consider using slang terminology. Or search on a foreign language site with Alta Vista and click on "Translate" when you get your results.

Example:

I found good information on a well known Korean martial arts grandmaster that had "disappeared" from California on a French website. I read some French, but when I used the "Translate" link, I discovered that this grandmaster had returned to South Korea and gone up into the mountains to enjoy the remainder of his life. It was great info!