IndustryGeronimo, Osama bin Laden Dead & More Searches Dominating Google, Yahoo, Bing

Geronimo, Osama bin Laden Dead & More Searches Dominating Google, Yahoo, Bing

Less than 48 hours after news of the killing of Osama bin Laden, related searches are still trending on Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Details of bin Laden’s death, news coverage, and even conspiracy theories have dominated on the search engines. Here’s a roundup.

Google Trends

Geronimo — the code name of the Navy SEAL operation that killed bin Laden — was the top search on Google earlier today, and remains on the list at fourth as if this writing. Jon Stewart checked in on the hot searches at number 13, likely related to his “To Kill a Mockingturd” coverage from last night.

Other related searches on Google today:

  • osama bin laden dead picture
  • osama bin laden dead pictures
  • osama bin laden dead video
  • osama bin laden death video
  • osama bin laden dead photo

google-trends-may2.png

Osama Bin Laden Dead was the top Google search overall yesterday and 17 of 20 of the hot searches related to news coverage of bin Laden’s death. From Sunday night through yesterday morning all 20 searches revolved around bin Laden in some form.

Sunday night:

  1. osama bin laden dead
  2. islamabad
  3. al qaeda
  4. president obama
  5. 9/11
  6. september 11
  7. obama address
  8. white house
  9. fox news
  10. cbs news
  11. nbc news
  12. associated press
  13. drudge report
  14. osama binladen
  15. al jazeera
  16. ny times
  17. cnn
  18. msnbc
  19. new york times
  20. breaking news

Monday morning:

  1. osama bin laden dead
  2. islamabad
  3. navy seals
  4. al qaeda
  5. 9/11
  6. ground zero
  7. president obama
  8. al jazeera
  9. new york times
  10. twin towers
  11. usa today
  12. pakistan news
  13. benazir bhutto
  14. 9 11
  15. nytimes
  16. washington post
  17. nyt
  18. infowars
  19. taliban
  20. Cia

One noteworthy statistic from Google: on Sunday, between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m. ET Sunday, searches for [bin laden] increased by 1 million percent vs. the the previous weekend.

And, not surprisingly, security firms are warning searchers to be careful when they click on Google search or image results for bin Laden, as they may lead to malicious pages.

People also hunted for bin Laden’s compound on Google Maps, earning it some bad reviews, including:

“Aside from the complimentary dialysis machine use, easy underground access to Pakistan’s beautiful vast cave system, and free toaster waffles, it’s a pretty big dump. The food wasn’t organic, the wifi was spotty at best, absolutely no cell coverage, (yelp reviews were so wrong on that one) and no one spoke English. To make it worse, the country’s best basketball player, some 6’7″ dude with a turban, gets shot our first night there. And the coffee was cold. We’re so not coming back.”

google-maps-compound.png

Yahoo Trending Topics

This morning, three trending topics were related to bin Laden:

  • $25 million bounty (which the FBI placed on bin Laden’s for his death or capture)
  • bin Laden tape (there are rumors a tape was recorded before bin Laden was killed and may soon be released)
  • FBI Most Wanted (the FBI has updated its Most Wanted list now that bin Laden is dead)

And while writing this, Geronimo just appeared on the list, knocking the bounty search off.

Yahoo searches for Osama bin Laden spiked 100,000 percent Sunday in the U.S. North Dakota, Arizona, Montana, Arkansas, New Mexico, Idaho, and South Dakota were led the way, but search volume on Yahoo was up in every state.

Top searches included details on bin Laden, including his bio, age, height, wife, children, Usama vs. Osama, and details on where and how he was killed.

The top questions among teens ages 13-17:

  • who is osama bin laden?
  • how did osama bin laden die?
  • who killed osama bin laden?

Other spiking searches:

  • Obama approval rating (up 119 percent)
  • Sept. 11th (up 1,009 percent)
  • US Flag (up 717 percent)
  • Star Spangled Banner lyrics (up 222 percent)
  • Patriotic songs
  • Ground Zero
  • the Twin Towers
  • the World Trade Center
  • 9/11 death toll and memorials
  • Pakistan map (up 2,594 percent)
  • Pakistan news (up 610 percent)
  • Islamabad

Yahoo searches for George Bush and the infamous “Mission Accomplished” also increased. Bin Laden’s death also prompted searches relating to 9/11 conspiracy theories, which rose 114 percent.

Bing Popular Now

We also asked Bing for search data, but were told they had no specific numbers to share at this time.

“FBI Most Wanted” today is a Popular Now topic on Bing’s homepage; “Osama bin Laden” appeared in this section yesterday.

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