Digital Trends

Meta-search engine Dogpile has released its tallies of top search terms for 2005: music, Internet sites, games, celebs come out on top, but the runners-up are surprising.

Meta-search engine Dogpile.com has compiled its lists of the most popular Internet search terms of 2005. Music lyrics, celebrity names, Internet sites, and gaming terms emerge as the most sought-after information, but some of the runners up aren't exactly what savvy Internet users might expect. Would you believe poetry, baby names, obituaries, and wedding vows?

Dogpile is a business of InfoSpace, and is a aggregating search engine which combined search results from other widely-used Web search services (including Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves, About.com, and others) into a single set of results. Its lists of popular terms are based on Dogpile searches conducted between January 1 and November 30, 2005, excluding adult content terms.

Among interesting results: people apparently search for information on wedding vows, baby names, and interview questions online with considerable frequency. Also, some celebrities have staying power: nearly 12 years after the debut of the television sitcom Friends, Jennifer Aniston's hairstyle and straightener (Sedu) are still hot search terms.

Top-ranked items are similar to—though not exactly the same as!—top 2005 search terms reported by Lycos this week, although socialite Paris Hilton nearly tops both lists.

Jon Nolz, Director of Marketing for Dogpile.com, notes: "Seeing music lyrics in the number one position is surprising given the number of huge headline news events over the year, but points to what online search is all about - finding information that does not have a readily-known source."

Of course, it can be difficult to take Dogpile seriously when their home page includes broken links, they can't seem to post their own press releases on their site, and say their study includes data from imaginary dates (November 31? hello? anybody?)—but it's not like anyone proofreads search terms either!

Dogpile Top 10:

1. Music Lyrics
2. Paris Hilton
3. Google
4. eBay
5. Yahoo
6. Mapquest
7. Games Cheat
8. Games
9. Dogs
10. Top 100 Baby Names

Other notable search terms include (numbers indicate overall ranking):

• 11 - Poetry
• 15 - Carmen Electra
• 16 - Funny Jokes
• 17 - Tattoos
• 19 - 1
• 20 - Pamela Anderson
• 21 - Jessica Simpson
• 22 - Radio Stations
• 24 - Britney Spears
• 25 - Weather
• 28 - Jennifer Aniston Sedu Hairstyles
• 32 - 50 Cent
• 35 - Walmart
• 36 - Lindsey Lohan
• 39 - Jennifer Lopez
• 41 - Search Engines
• 42 - Green Day
• 44 - MySpace
• 45 - Eminem
• 76 - Inuyasha
• 84 - Obituaries
• 152 - Funny Pictures
• 153 - Interview Questions
• 154 - Wedding Vows
• 184 - Catholic Churches
• 198 - Dragons
• 208 - Napoleon Dynamite
• 209 - Real Estate