Google Blog | Google Zeitgeist
The regional breakdown of Google’s year-end study of search terms shows how much people use the search engine to find local news sources, says Johanna Wright, the company’s Director of Product Management. “In nearly every single U.S. city we looked at, the top ten local terms showed that people were using Google to find local news stations and learn more about educational organizations,” she writes. (A Google employee clarifies that she was referring to various media outlets, not just broadcast.) “Pittsburgh, PA was the most media-hungry city in Zeitgeist this year, with all of their top 5 terms related to local news stations, while in New York City and Houston, TX, no news sources made the top ten lists.”
Among the things that pop out from the most searched terms in 30 cities:
- People associate broadcast stations with weather news.
- In some cities, people type in the name of a news website, while in others they search for the name of the newspaper connected to the news site. In some cases, both terms make the top 10.
Here are the search terms for local media in the top 10 searches for 30 cities in the U.S. (These are the terms people searched for, which sometimes differ from the names of media outlets. The only change I’ve made is to capitalize the letters of TV and radio stations.)
Atlanta
- WSBTV: (ranked #3)
- Fox 5 Atlanta: 5
- AJC: 6
Austin
- KVUE: 2
- KXAN: 3
- Austin American Statesman: 6
- News 8 Austin: 8
- KVUE weather: 9
Baltimore
- Baltimore Sun: 3
- Carroll County Times: 7
- WBAL weather: 10
Boston
- WHDH: 1
- Channel 7 Boston: 2
- Boston.com: 5
- Channel 5 Boston: 6
Charlotte
- Charlotte Observer: 1
- WRAL: 3
- WSOC: 6
Chicago
- Chicago Tribune: 3
- Chicago Breaking News: 5
- ABC 7 Chicago: 7
Cleveland
- Plain Dealer: 1
- 19 Action News: 6
- Cleveland.com: 7
- Newsnet 5: 10
Columbus, Ohio
- Columbus Dispatch: 1
Dallas
- WFAA: 1
- Dallas Morning News: 2
Denver, Colo.
- 9news: 2
- Denver Post: 3
Detroit
- Fox 2 News: 1
- Click On Detroit: 2
- WDIV: 3
- WXYZ: 5
- Channel 7 Detroit: 8
- Myfoxdetroit: 9
Indianapolis
- Indystar: 1
- Indianapolis Star: 5
- Fox 59: 7
- WTHR: 8
Kansas City, Mo.
- Kansas City Star: 2
Los Angeles
- Los Angeles Times: 8
- Ventura County Star: 9
- Daily Breeze: 10
Madison, Wis.
- Wisconsin State Journal: 1
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 4
- WKOW: 6
- Janesville Gazette: 9
Miami
- Miami Herald: 3
- WSVN: 6
- Power 96: 9
Minneapolis
- Star Tribune: 1
- WCCO weather: 5
- KARE weather: 7
Orlando, Fla.
- WFTV: 3
- Orlando Sentinel: 4
Philadelphia:
- Philadelphia Inquirer: 8
Phoenix, Ariz.
- AZCentral: 1
Pittsburgh
- Pittsburgh Post Gazette: 1
- KDKA: 2
- Tribune Review: 3
- WTAE: 4
- WPXI: 5
Portland, Ore.
- Oregonian: 3
- Oregon Live: 6
Raleigh
- WRAL: 1
- News & Observer: 7
Sacramento, Calif.
- Sacramento Bee: 1
- KCRA: 3
San Francisco
- Sfgate: 4
- Contra Costa Times: 5
- Marin IJ: 9
Seattle
- KOMO: 2
- KING 5: 3
- Seattle Times: 5
St. Louis, Mo.
- Stltoday: 1
- KSDK: 2
- Fox 2 News: 3
- KMOV: 5
- Riverfront Times: 9
Tampa, Fla.
- TBO: 2
- St. Pete Times: 6
- Tampa Tribune: 8
- Bay News 9: 9
Washington, D.C.
- Washington Post: 9
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