There is no way to know what is really on someone's mind, much less what is occupying the thoughts of a whole nation, but the Hitwise "Top US Search Lists of 2006" report provides a valuable view into the minds of Internet users over the last year, showing what they took the trouble to type into search boxes.
"Search term data is the closest proxy for what is on the minds of Internet users, and is a great measure of brand equity," said Bill Tancer of Hitwise. "For example MySpace saw tremendous growth in traffic in 2006 which is a reflection of the increased brand equity for MySpace. MySpace related search terms accounted for half of the top 10 search terms to all sites in 2006."
Of course, it should be remembered that the Internet is not a mass medium — no one site or channel dominates. Even though MySpace reached the top spot and five MySpace sites were in the top 10, altogether they still accounted for only 1.5% of the searches tracked.
Still, interesting trends can be gleaned.
For instance, in the top list of searches in the television category, the former "Big Three" networks are nowhere to be found.
In the top television show category, however, Fox's American Idol was voted the winner.
In the lifestyle/fashion category, Old Navy was the new place to go.
It should be noted that for another point of view on the most popular search terms of 2006, you can go to Yahoo!, where Britney Spears topped the list — and Pamela Anderson was hanging in at No. 9.
For more information on what you can do with search information, read eMarketer's Search Marketing: Spending and Metrics report.