Bill Myers - December 4, 2009

My wife and I don't watch much TV, but when we do, we are often left wondering.

For example, one of the shows we recently viewed had 'news' on the hottest stars of this past year, and neither my wife nor I recognized the name or photo of a single person profiled.

This isn't likely to be a big loss on our part, but if you do want to keep up with what other people are interested in - which is a good idea if you are developing products or doing marketing - there are two good places to visit.

The first is Google Hot Trends where you can find the 'most searched words' for any given day.

Browsing those 'most search words' gives an instant snapshot into the minds of web searchers - at least for a given day.

For a longer term view, check out Google Zeitgeist 2009 - which shows search trends for the year, broken down by country, category, and even city.

For example, checking the 'Around the Home' category at Google Zeitgeist, you'll find the top search trends for topics like exercise, diet and how-to.

Knowing what those trends are can help you identify niches you might have missed. For example, 'pole dancing' is a top search phrase in the exercise category.

Both of these trends sites are free, and can help you get a clue into what attracts attention on the web.

Find Google Hot Trends at http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends

Find Google Zeitgeist 2009 at http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/press/zeitgeist2009/index.html