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Miami Googles 'Foreclosures,' 'Fidel'

What Are South Floridians Typing Into Their Google Search Engine?

POSTED: Monday, February 4, 2008

It may be true what they say about South Floridians: We're not big on politics, unless you're talking about Cuba, but we're obsessed with real estate and plastic surgery.

Miami Internet users are among world leaders Googling the word "condo," placing second only to web surfers in Singapore, according to statistics released Monday by Google.

Additionally, when the search word is "foreclosure," Miami takes first place, looking for Web sites using the word "foreclosure" more than any other city on Earth, followed by Richardson, Texas, Atlanta and other Florida cities including Tampa and Orlando, Local 10's Mark Joyella reported.

Miami is mildly interested in the possibility of a female president, placing 10th worldwide in a list of cities searching sites for "Hillary Clinton," but Miami does not turn up among the Top 10 search locations for any of the other major candidates.

Rudy Giuliani, who placed all his bets on winning in Florida, still drums up interest, however, with Miami fifth worldwide putting "Rudy Giuliani" into Google's search box, according to Joyella.

To residents along Calle Ocho, it should come as no surprise that Miami is second only to Havana when it comes to typing "Cuba" in the Google search box, and Miami ranks fourth among cities worldwide looking up "Fidel Castro," after Havana, San Salvador and Caracas.

Google's Trends Labs record statistics on all Google searches dating to 2004. Enter a word or phrase, and Google returns the top Googling locations by region, city and language. And the information does confirm Miami's image as a city seriously concerned with looking good.

The leading results for the phrase "plastic surgery" come from San Diego and Irvine, Calif, followed by Miami. Los Angeles is fourth.

Who's looking to shed a few pounds? The top cities searching for "diet" are Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Miami.

Miami's Sports Searches

And the New York transplants living in Miami still follow baseball back home. Miami is the seventh city worldwide searching "Mets," and third searching "Yankees," a team that drums up more interest among Miami Googlers than our own Marlins. (Top cities searching for "Marlins" are Ft. Lauderdale, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton. Miami comes in fourth.)

Even the beloved Dolphins get snubbed from Miami Internet searchers, Joyella found. The phrase "Miami Dolphins" brings back a Florida-heavy list, but Miami's not first. Ft. Lauderdale takes the top spot, followed by Boca Raton, Miami, Orlando and Tampa.

New Yorkers don't really return the favor by searching "Marlins" or "Dolphins," but Big Apple Internet users do know where to get their news, placing fifth worldwide among cities searching for "WPLG," and ninth looking for "Local 10."

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