Search. Click. Find.

The Internet has changed a lot over the last ten years and, as a search marketer, I'd have to be blind not to notice how that has influenced searcher behavior. But what does that mean, exactly?

Well.. I'm a searcher, aren't I? So I got to thinking about my own search behavior and what direction I plan on taking my two eyeballs in 2012. Thus, the inspiration for my 2012 checklist.

Top 10 Things I Plan on searching for in 2012 (and where)

1. Stuff. I'm going to need stuff in 2012. I mean, I ALWAYS need stuff - shoes, clothes, new curtains for the living room because the ones I own are totally shot. Where will I start this search? Not Google! I'll start at Overstock.com where they have a nice selection of curtains and I can even customize my search results by length (I prefer 63" curtains because they look better on low windows than the more common 84" ones).
2. Stuff for my kids. I'm going to be honest here. I am an Amazon Prime member and I always start toy, video game and electronic related searches on Amazon. I don't always end there because hot toys (of the variety that make parents beat up other parents at Christmas time) tend to be triple the price on Amazon as, say, Toys R Us or Target - but the free 2-day shipping for Prime members is always a huge motivator for me to start there.
3. Music. And..speaking of Amazon - whenever I hear a song I like, or my kids beg me for a song they like - I start (and usually end) my search there. Why? Because I'm a dedicated Android head and LOVE the cloud player, plus I refuse to let my kids buy music on iTunes (they have ipods) because Apple's stranglehold on digital media annoys me.
4. News, and lots of it. Okay, here's where Google comes in. I've become addicted to popping by Google's News page a few times a day, browsing the headlines and occasionally even reading an article. But Google isn't where my news addiction stops. When I want highly sensationalized, sound-byte type stories, I have to say it's Yahoo News all the way! Oops, did I just admit that? Yes, yes I did. I've also been using an App called Pulse which is basically a very pretty news aggregator that works on all my (many) Android devices.
5. Crisis Information. That is, information on some sort of outage/crisis/real-time event that is effecting me. An example of this is the Earthquake that hit New York in August. About five minutes after my house stopped shaking I was on Facebook and Twitter searching for news about the earthquake. First, I wanted to see if anyone else experienced it (was it an explosion?) then, I wanted to find news about it. Facebook was a HUGE help here. The same goes for Hurricane Irene which devestated my area of New York - I turned to Facebook for information about what areas were getting power back, who needed the most help and where I could go for things like dry ice and batteries.
6. Work. At some point in 2012, I expect I'll be reaching out to my network and putting feelers out to see who needs me. I'm a freelancer, after all, I don't get paid unless I have active projects. Where will I go to find work? LinkedIn, Indeed.com and industry sites like Sempo.org and MediaPost. Where won't I look for work? Google.
7. Video. I don't subscribe to cable anymore. I have become such an uber geek that I get all my video content (I don't call it "TV" anymore) from Netflix (both streaming and DVDs), Hulu and YouTube. When I'm searching for something to watch, I generally start with Netflix and follow it up with Hulu. I have a Roku box and can watch anything from either of these sites on my TV. I can also rent movies from Amazon and watch it on TV using my Roku. When I want to watch short clips or I'm looking for something viral, then I generally start my video search on YouTube. [NOTE: I am fascinated with YouTube and have begun some test video campaigns which are getting really great results. YouTube gets 800 million visits per month! Per MONTH! And Google recently integrated YouTube video advertising with the Adwords interface so it's super easy to get up and running. I plan to do a separate post about this very soon.]
8. Directions. I have no sense of direction. I mean, zero. If it weren't for Google Maps and, to a lesser extent, Bing - I'd probably be a migrant cyclist living somewhere in Canada at the moment, weeping and trying to find my way home. But I digress. If you are running a local campaign, think about this - 97% of consumers search for local businesses online [juicy stat courtesy of Google.] And they're not just searching on their desktops - they're relying heavily on smartphones and tablets. Adwords offers several extensions that enhance your ads in the search results Maps sections - if you're not using them to help you stand out, you should be.
9. Phone numbers. I never look inside a phone book anymore. I search for phone numbers almost exclusively online or on my smartphone. A study by Harris Interactive, conducted in 2010, reported that nearly 70% of U.S. adults "rarely or never" use the phone book. Instead, the majority of them (60%) use the Internet to find contact information. More and more people are using their cell phones and computers to look up phone numbers too - think about this the next time a big honking Yellow Pages directory arrives at your door, only to be immediately thrown out.
10. Apps. I love apps. My kids love apps. I won an Android Tablet last year (thanks Google!) and it's become the go-to entertainment device for my family - we watch video on it, play lots of games and I occasionally even do some work. Thus, I am always searching for new apps. I also have an Android phone, so I do a lot of app searches directly in the Android market. My kids each have iPod touches, so they are forever searching for apps in the App Store. I think app development can be a great way to extend your reach beyond Google's search results page. Here's a great example - a couple of years ago I wanted an app to help me track calories eaten and burned, so I typed in "calorie counting" in the Android App store and found the perfect app called "Calorie Counter." I downloaded it and the app kept pushing me to a site called FatSecret which I had never heard of. I eventually checked out the site and registered so I could log my calories on both site and through my phone via the app. FatSecret had successfully used the App to promote their web site.
11. Information and Images. Here's where Google still rules. I still start my searches at Google when I'm hunting for information - whether it's to research a product I want to buy, or help my 10-year-old learn five facts about Ancient Egypt, I start with Google, then migrate onto Yahoo or Bing. I also use Google image search a lot - probably too much. I'm hoping that Google rolls out some sort of "promoted image" ad format soon because I suspect I'm not the only one doing lots of image searches here.

I have to run - lots to search for! Oh and Happy New Year!