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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Google Zeitgeist 2012 unveils the spirit of Indian netizens

December 18, 2012

Google Zeitgeist 2012 unveils the spirit of Indian netizens

Indian Web Goes Utilitarian: Communication to Convenience

From net banking to eCommerce: ‘convenience’ drove search for the connected India
Entertainment and Education – emerged as trending searches for 2012
Mobile searches grow as Indians look for information on the go

INDIA| December 18, 2012: Revealing the local flavours of internet search in the country, Google India today announced its annual Zeitgeist, a look at 2012 through the collective eyes of our nation on the web. Like every year, this year’s Zeitgeist also offers a unique perspective on the major events and hottest trends, based on searches conducted in India. Taking an interesting diversion from the results of 2011, which reflected the emphasis on people and event related searches, internet users in India have now started using the web for their personal needs – shopping, booking tickets, and making informed decisions for their offline purchases.

Rajan Anandan, VP and Managing Director – Sales and Operations, Google India, said, “Google’s 2012 Zeitgeist reflects data from 1.2 trillion searches in 146 languages globally. With 137 million users, India is the world’s third largest internet market and is a good barometer of trends in Indian society as a whole.”

“With growing smartphone adoption, mobile searches continued to grow with over 70 million mobile internet users. We expect India’s next 150–180 million Internet users will access the Internet through their mobile devices. This means that the information that these users will look for will need to be more local and meaningful as already reflected in the kind of search trends we’re seeing in the country,” he added.

Google’s Zeitgeist data shows that utilitarian services drove search volumes. With more institutions moving their services online for greater convenience, searches for them ticked upward accordingly. For instance, banks emerged as one of the most popular categories, with net banking being the most frequently searched query within the category.

An analysis of the top searched travel websites showed that while railways, airline tickets, and hotel booking sites were an obvious trend, a bus booking portal – redbus.in – featured at number 3 in the list, marking a new trend in how Indians prefer to travel.

Exams, traditionally pen-and-ink affairs, are also moving online as IBPS (Institute of Banking Personnel Selection), GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) and CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) came in at numbers 1, 2 and 6 in the top overall trending list respectively. This shows that young Indians are showing a great deal of interest in government jobs.

Another fascinating trend was the warming up of Indian netizens to e-commerce. There is definitely a positive shift in the user’s perception on purchasing gadgets, books, accessories and more online. While business brands rode on this trend, celebrities leveraged social media to build their ‘brands’ as well. Users searched for politicians and celebrities who were either present through their own social media channels or in news for their active online presence.

Zeitgeist’s India data also gave an interesting view of what is troubling Indian users – it seems like global economic turmoil kept Indians worried, with Sensex being the top searched event this year. Prominent deaths – including those of Vilasrao Deshmukh and Rajesh Khanna – made it to the list as well.

From an information perspective, education and examination related searches also drew consumers to use the web for search, with banking and engineering related aptitude examinations topping the trends list throughout the year. Overall, IGNOU was the most searched university across India.
Utilitarian web:

Top Trending searches