Google's annual report on "most popular search terms" has been posted.

Since Google finds 257,437,829 hits for every search term, but allows you to see only the "most popular" hundred or so, some examination of the results may be an aid in crafting your own queries to get (or to avoid) the "herd hits."

Results, globally, on the first page are for "fastest rising topics," with – obviously – Sarah Palin leading all others. It should be noted that she appeared suddenly, rose rapidly, but went nowhere in particular; and for total searches is outclassed by several others.

You have to look in the other pages for more.

Separate results are posted for individual countries, and links at the side-bar take various "categorical views" of the results.

For those not inclined to hunting through the Google results, a "summary of the results" is also up at MSNBC News. The article gives little actual information, but offers interpretations identifying a few "summary categories" that might not be obvious while looking at the data ("most egotistical countries?").

John