Top Search terms in the UAE

Google today announced its annual 2010 Zeitgeist, a unique perspective on the year’s major events and hottest trends based on global searches, as well as searches conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The fastest rising search term in the UAE was the Burj Khalifa mirroring the launch of the world’s tallest building. Social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube continue to gain popularity and websites that provide free sms services and VOIP fared well.

Commenting on the UAE Zeitgeist, Ari Kesisoglu, Regional Manager, Middle East North Africa stated, “The UAE results show that more users are using the Internet to obtain information that is relevant to them such as utility pill payment through DEWA bill and online banking. Searches for online services are on the uptake which underpins the need for businesses to be online catering to their customer requirements.”

Interest in personalities saw teen-sensation Justin Bieber top searches in the UAE closely followed by Shakira and Lady Gaga. Placed fourth and fifth respectively were Bollywood stars Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. The top search on social network sites was Facebook.

Fastest Rising
1. burj khalifa
2. ترتوب
3. world cup 2010
4. hotmail sign in
5. emirates nbd
6. fantage
7. قيمزر
8. gmail login
9. youtube video
10. facebook login

Most Popular
1. youtube
2. facebook
3. yahoo mail
4. hotmail
5. gmail
6. gulf news
7. gamzer
8. malayala manorama
9. dubizzle
10. Air Arabia

Fastest Rising People
1. justin bieber
2. shakira
3. lady gaga
4. salman khan
5. katrina kaif
6. حسين الجسمي
7. kim kardashian
8. miley cyrus
9. manny pacquiao
10. michael jackson

Most popular news site
1. gulf news
2. malayala manorama
3. yahoo
4. bbc
5. khaleej times
6. times of india
7. dinamalar
8. bangladesh newspaper
9. manorama news
10. cnn

Most Popular ‘Discovery’
1. what is love
2. what is life
3. wikipedia
4. what is internet
5. dictionary
6. translate
7. what is the weather
8. what is marketing
9. what is accounting
10. what is 3g

Fastest rising social network
1. facebook english
2. hotmail
3. sms markaz
4. youtube video
5. picnik
6. yahoo messenger
7. facebook arabic
8. gmail
9. skype
10. way2sms

Fastest rising online service
1. gulfnews jobs
2. emirates nbd
3. reel cinema dubai
4. dewa online
5. rediff money
6. dubizzle
7. emirates careers,
8. mashreq bank online
9. etisalat online
10. rak bank

In addition to telling us what people are curious about in the UAE, Google Zeitgeist tools also offer insight into which topics were of interest across the globe. The global results will be announced later today.