Interesting Google Searches ~ A Window into Human Psyche
Interesting Google Search Terms and What they Tell Us About People
This is not some geeky search engine post but an interesting way to look into what people think and want to know about.
You can do this yourself and see what you get - here are some interesting examples I came up with.
I’m always interested in the human psyche, what makes us tick mentally, what we think and, importantly, how and why we think the way we do.
Technology now offers a real insight into this area as Google has several 100 million searches a day and this provides a huge wealth of data into what people want to know.
If you have ‘provide query suggestions’ enabled in preferences when you begin type a question Google starts offering you the most popular searches that match the start of the query.
As this is what most people want to know it’s both interesting and worthy of debate - here are some example screen shots i did with off the cuff questions.
You’ll see what I began to type in the search box and then the most popular suggestions below it offered by Google
The above is a great example of what I mean, the first question is fairly obvious and quite reasonable to search for, though it does say a lot about modern society when you think about it.
But look at “why am I so ugly” huge numbers of people are typing that into search engines - that really does say something about us and our self-esteem nowadays.
Note also the last one - why am i here !
Don’t shoot the messenger here ! Interesting to note only 3 suggestions which shows that is all people ever really ask but also the stereotypical images discussed here before.
Interestingly, the same question using “men” provides no suggestions which means there is very little traffic for that query.
Some other searches prove stereotypes are alive and well - be they real or imaginary
“why are americans” gives #1 eggs white. #2 so stupid. #3 called yanks.
“why do french” gives at #1 people smell ! !
I quite like “how do you know when you’re in love” shows there is still some romance left 
The last two showing again a basic difference between male and female psychology, could you imagine a guy asking Google those questions ?
You can, hopefully, now see what I mean about the possibilities for both interest and indeed amusement.
Check it out yourself and let us know if you come up with any of interest, be they educational, insightful or just funny.
Fell free to share any you come up with or indeed voice an opinion on the examples given
Curiously Yours
Rod
Rod said,
September 23, 2009 @ 6:15 pm
Why Can’t I shows
Lose weight
get a girlfriend
and bizarrely
own a canadian
does it matter if
Very interesting this #1 is
your boyfriend is smaller than you
Looks like we were on the money here then
Why do the British
Drive on the left
Have bad teeth
Drink so much
Little Brother said,
September 23, 2009 @ 10:50 pm
Ro,
Great stuff,
Is there one for ‘why does my site attract everyone in the universe who wants to pickle a beetroot’?
LB
Rod said,
September 24, 2009 @ 7:31 am
LB,
that’s the price of being #1 for “how to pickle beetroot”
Interestingly search for
“how to pic” and you get
how to pick up girls
how to pick a lock
how to pickle peppers is the first foodie
“how to cook” is an interesting one
#1 is asparagus
Cheers
Rod
Femme Fatale said,
September 24, 2009 @ 11:37 am
Rod,
Check out the first one you appear on: Rod C
Not sure what they all are
FF
xx
Rod said,
September 24, 2009 @ 5:52 pm
FF,
good catch
Amazingly I am actually on the suggested list which is a surprise -and a nice one at that.
Not sure what Rod Contraception is all about though.
On second thought perhaps they have found out that I am the ultimate form of contraception - I put women off sex completely
Thanks for Adding to the Post FF - Much Appreciated
Regards
Rod
Yeah said,
September 13, 2010 @ 9:03 pm
Came across your site after a random search. Love this post and tried it out.
Why are americans:
afraid of dragons (wait, what?)
Why can’t:
black people swim (really?)
you tickle yourself
Why aren’t:
women funny
the beatle on itunes
So much randomness. It’s great.
Thanks!
Rod said,
September 14, 2010 @ 7:47 am
Yeah,
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site - pleased you had a go.
The important thing with this in my opinion is that it’s the world’s biggest opinion poll.
The results Google suggest are based on what what most people type - therefore what most people think/know/want to fnd out.
It’s such a telling and insightful thing - hopefully more will give it a go and report back
All the best
Rod