Contrary to popular belief, Pornography isn't what drives the Internet -- or at least it's not what drives Internet search. Also, strangely, Aussies can't find Google using Google.
Google has released a tool that shows statistics relating to popular Internet searches, inventively dubbed "Google Insights For Search". While it's predominantly intended for advertisers hunting out the hot new search terms, the fact that it's publicly available (with search data dating back four years) means it can be used to discern what the Internet-using public thinks is hot.
Surprisingly, and contrary to what many people would think, it's not just porn, porn, porn oh, and porn. Looking at the Australian results, Porn doesn't even make the top ten, which is comprised currently of games, myspace, ebay, google, hotmail, youtube, yahoo, weather, real estate and msn.
Hang on a minute -- Google's a popular search term ON Google? That would seem to suggest that Aussies can't find Google using... Google. Weird.
For those considering a naked web career, the news isn't all bad, as interest in Porn searches has been (ahem) "rising" since 2004, with those states on the Eastern seaboard (most notably Queensland) leading the push.
Having said that, the most popular porn search term in Australia? That'd be "Free Porn" (followed confusingly by "Sex Porn" -- are there other types we don't know about?), so perhaps it would be wise not to quit your day job (and your clothes) just yet.
You can access Google's Insights For Search Tool here.