The holiday season is over and all of us will spent hours with our favorite countdowns of the year. The search industry gets especially excited when top search term charts come out. After taking time to browse the top searches of 2008 on Ask and Yahoo!, then browsing this year’s edition of the Google Zeitgeist, I have to wonder: why do so many people search for branded websites in search engines?

According to Google, “facebook” (broad matched, of course) is the no. 2 searched term in 2008 behind “obama.” Ask’s rankings have the social network as the no. 5 most searched for term.

I totally understand that people searching online have a wide variety of education and comfort levels with the internet. Fine. That said, why on earth do people need to search “facebook” in Google or Ask to, presumably, find Facebook.com? Everyone says they left a comment on their friend’s  Facebook wall because, well, they left it on Facebook! Try using a direct web address every once and a while.

The tendency to search for web domain names is especially prevalent in Ask, where five branded wLebsites rank in their top 10 searches. I find it really funny that “Google” is the no. 3 top search term in Ask – anyone else? Ask is most likely being used by people who have a lower experience and comfort level with the internet. While I find this information interesting and useful for those who manage PPC accounts, is information like this useful at all to SEOs?

Other things I learned from the top search rankings for Yahoo!, Ask, and the Zeitgeist:

• Fans of professional wrestling own computers and can read (presumably) – WWE no. 2 top search in Yahoo!
• What RuneScape (a World Of Warcraft-style RPG) is – no. 5 search in Yahoo!
• surfthechannel is going to be a large player in 2009 for internet TV – no. 10 in Zeitgeist.
• People use Ask to gather information – Dictionary, Cars, Online degrees, and Credit score were some of the top searches.

Search on Yahoo! is still strongly driven by the entertainment industry, with the only non-entertainment related top 10 term being “Barack Obama.” Although, if you believe the ads from the McCain campaign, Obama is the world’s biggest celebrity. Whatever.

Anyway, in addition to Yahoo’s swing towards entertainment, I believe the news Yahoo! leads with in their  featured box directly drives how people search on their site. Argue amongst yourselves about whether or not she was a “search-worthy” celebrity this year, but did Yahoo! feature every Britney Spears headline – minor or major – she made in 2008? Yep. Thus the search volume.

Any other observations you made after checking out this year’s top searches? I’d love to hear ‘em. Thanks for hearing mine.

First off, I’d like to thank Chuck for giving me the opportunity to drop a line on his site. Thanks!

I’m proud to announce that ProspectMX, my internet marketing company in Pennsylvania, has developed a holiday contest with a great prize of $10,000 in internet marketing for a deserving charity or non-profit organization.

The ProspectMX Christmas Wish contest officially began on Monday and ends December 31, 2008. Our team will announce the winner of the contest on January 5, 2009.

If your work with a non-profit organization looking to build their presence online, answer the following question on your blog or website between today and the end of the year (12/31):

“How can internet marketing benefit your organization?”

Once we choose a winner, our company will work on developing and implementing an internet marketing plan that will best fulfill the goals and needs of the non-profit organization.

Other companies in the internet marketing community have also gotten involved with the Christmas Wish. Runner up prizes have been provided by Seattle-based search firm SEOmoz, educational website SEO 101 Tools, and trackur, a social media and online reputation monitoring service.

For full details on the Christmas Wish Contest, please visit the ProspectMX website page on charity internet marketing (http://www.prospectmx.com/charity-internet-marketing). Anything you can do to help us spread the word is greatly appreciated.

Have a happy holiday season!

SEO’s and webmasters watched their computer screens with baited breath Tuesday afternoon (on the east coast, anyway) through a long press conference to download the latest revolution in web browsers from your friends at… none other than Google.

Google Chrome is now open source… and open to the public. Cool things about G-Chrome:

• The Incognito Window
• Really fast browsing
• Use of exsisting browser technology
• Search integration into the Omnibox

The fact that it lacks a file toolbar will no doubt confuse most regular internet users. Can speed alone cause the majority of Internet Explorer users to get over the potential confusion of a browser without a file bar?

Chrome also seems to have a hodgepodge of the best things from each major web browser out there… along with a smattering of improvements.

So, if the only major benefit most common internet users are going to get from Chrome is faster browsing, then what was the point of the G-team putting this product out? Simple… MORE SEARCHES! Faster browser – more searches. Faster search – more searches.

And at Google, more searches = more $.

Of course, there could always be another motive for why Google put out Chrome. As I mentioned earlier, one of the coolest things about Chrome is Incognito mode, which basically allows you to hide a screen’s content (and any notation of you visiting a site) behind a normal web browser window.

At the same time, that doesn’t mean no one will know what you’re looking at on the internet. ProspectMX, a Pennsylvania internet marketing company, has created a “Chrome Comic” that explains the real reason behind the development of what is sure to become known as “pRon mode.” Check it out.