Come tutti gli anni Google pubblica lo Zeitgeist, la classifica delle parole più cercate sui suoi database. Zeitgeist è una parola tedesca che significa "lo spirito (geist) del tempo(Zeit)". Indica, in senso lato, il contesto culturale e intelletuale di un’era. Ecco il testo introduttivo:

A year’s worth of search speaks to our collective consciousness, and 2006 is no exception. To compile these year-end lists and graphs, we compared frequent queries this year against 2005 to see what sorts of things were top of mind.

Un anno di ricerche mostra la nostra coscienza collettiva, la nostra strada che abbiamo percorso. Per stilare questa classifica, sono state confrontate le ricerche dell’anno scorso con quelle di quest’anno per evidenziare quali pensieri frullavano maggiormente nelle menti della gente. Da tener presente che i dati sono riferiti al database centrale di Google (quello internazionale) e non è specifico delle singole nazioni.

La lista delle parole, a un prima lettura, risulta essere elaborata e parziale. Viene presentata in 6 categorie:

• Le parole più ricercate in Google.com e in Google News
  • bebo, myspace, world cup, metacafe, radioblog, wikipedia, video, rebelde, mininova, wiki
  • paris hilton, orlando bloom, cancer, podcasting, hurricane katrina, bankruptcy, martina hingis, autism, 2006 nfl draft, celebrity big brother 2006
• Le domande che abbiamo sottoposto a google del tipo: Chi è, Come fare a, Cos’è, Definisci
  • who is borat, who is hezbollah, who is eu, who is hot, who is capote, who is v?, who is banksy, who is mohammed, who is buckethead, ip who is
  • what is hezbollah, what is carisoprodol, what is acyclovir, what is alprazolam, what is tramadol, what is ajax, what is hydrocodone, what is vicodin, what is xenical, what is xanax 
  • how to refinance, wiki how to, how to drift, how to podcast, how to scream, how to levitate, how to tattoo, how to blog, how to kickflip, how to draw
  • define promiscuous, define web 2.0, define ftw, define calidad, define ajax, define ensayo, define ciencia, define administracion, define harlequin, define filosofia
• Gli eventi mondiali che ci hanno maggiormente interessato (dove è, lo scandalo di)
  • where is togo, where is matt, where is torino, where is darfur, where is villanova, where is montenegro, where is angola, where is .com au, where is palestine, where dubai
  • duke lacrosse scandal, project runway scandal, duke scandal, duke rape scandal, reggie bush scandal, clay aiken scandal, christie brinkley scandal, chris daughtry scandal, northwestern soccer scandal, page scandal
• Eventi mondani di star del cinema o vip (matrimoni, divorzi, necrologi)
  • nicole kidman wedding, tom cruise wedding, avril lavigne wedding, campbell brown wedding, tomkat wedding photos, avril wedding, tom katie wedding, cruise holmes wedding, wedding crashers rules, pamela anderson wedding
  • paul mccartney divorce, travis barker divorce, britney spears divorce, whitney houston divorce, eminem divorce, reese witherspoon divorce, heather locklear divorce, star jones divorce, anna benson divorce, prince divorce
  • aaron spelling obituary, kirby puckett obituary, jack wild obituary, clifford geertz obituary, muriel spark obituary, buck owens obituary, billy preston obituary, earl woods obituary, obituary steve irwin, mike douglas obituary
• Appuntamenti e divertimenti (biglietti e orari) – solo stati uniti
  • cheetah girls tickets, mets playoff tickets, the fray tickets, bob seger tickets, chris brown tickets, jersey boys tickets, carlos mencia tickets, tiger tickets, tigers tickets, rutgers football tickets
  • idiocracy showtimes, cars showtimes, borat showtimes, superman showtimes, jesus camp showtimes, superman returns showtimes, beerfest showtimes, scoop showtimes, bozeman showtimes, clerks 2 showtimes
• Eventi sportivi (maglie e ritiro dall’attività agonistica)
  •  world cup jerseys, zidane jersey, buffalo sabres jersey, ronaldinho jersey, italy jersey, brazil jersey, seahawks jersey, england jersey, usa soccer jersey, argentina jersey
  • bob barker retire, retire bobby bowden, sammy sosa retire, tiki barber retire, bill gates retire, retire 51, jet li retire, retire bowden, jimmy smith retire, curtis martin retire