yahoo [1] business news
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Google Inc. is going to start sharing more insights about what's on its users' minds by showing a daily list of the 100 hottest topics on its Internet-leading search engine.
The new rankings will be unveiled late Monday in an upgrade of Google's "trends" service. The breakdown will consist of the fastest-rising search requests on any given day.
The list won't include all of the top queries because it will be edited to exclude pornography and other requests about the weather, popular Web sites like MySpace.com or prominent celebrities that consistently generate lots of searches.
Trying to figure out why certain terms are popping up is part of the fun underlying the list, said Amit Patel, a Google software engineer who oversaw the project. To help provide context, the Mountain View-based company will provide links to news stories and blogs containing the search terms.
"It's very entertaining and it's very addictive," Patel said of the trends list.
Besides appealing to pop culture junkies, Patel believes the rankings will be useful to Web researchers and reporters looking for story ideas.
The improvements also will enable users to analyze search terms within the sub-regions of 79 countries.
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[1] http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070522/ap_on_hi_te/google_trends;_ylt=AibozfvZaT26.v..utVCmAgjtBAF