New year, new you? What does 2007 have in store? - 1 January 2007
January 5 - Look for a new jobWith Christmas and New Year festivities behind us, thoughts now turn to what lies ahead in 2007. But rather than leave us in the dark, Yell.com, the UK’s local search engine, today reveals what people across the nation will be looking for this year – and when.
Yell.com is used by millions of people across the UK to organise their lives, so it is uniquely qualified to anticipate the key dates when we’re most likely to tackle life-changing activities in 2007. The diary has been compiled through extensive analysis by Yell.com’s data experts, who examined what users searched for in 2006 as a way of discovering what we are likely to search for in the year ahead.
New Year’s Resolutions or January Blues?
Yell.com’s data reveals January as the month of the biggest decisions, with the most ‘life milestone’ relevant classification searches:
Friday January 5 – Get a New Job
After the honeymoon period of returning to work has cooled off – January 5 is the day we’re most likely to think about looking for a new job or recruiting new employees, with the highest volume of searches for ‘recruitment and employment agencies.’
Tuesday January 9 – Book a Holiday
As the reality of our first full week in the office looms – on January 9 Britons hit the net to look for summer sun, as searches for ‘travel agents’ soar.
Tuesday Jan 30 – Embrace A New Life
‘Divorce’ will be the one thing on unhappy couples’ minds on January 30 as they seek information on divorce lawyers in order to go their separate ways.
Take a Peek into the Future
Unsurprisingly, love will definitely be in the air in February – with more searches for ‘weddings’ on February 13 than any other day as love birds prepare for a romantic Valentine’s Day.
But more unusual trends appear later in the year. In March we’ll be spring-cleaning our bodies – not just our homes – as searches for ‘plastic surgery’ reach new peaks between Tuesday 13 and Thursday 15.
Itchy feet will set in in May as many of us start looking for a new life abroad searching ‘immigration’, ‘relocation’, ‘overseas property’ and ‘embassies’ during May 25 and 30.
In July it’ll be eco a go-go as we finally go green with more searches for ‘solar energy’ on the 31st than on any other day in the year.
Then we’ll be wrapping the year up in December by unwrapping ourselves – as more of us will be searching for ‘naturism’ on December 7!
The research also looked at the top ten searches of 2006 to identify a snapshot of daily life in the UK. With top searches being for ‘restaurants’, ‘hotels’ and ‘hairdressers’, the data suggests how the UK uses Yell.com for a range of personal needs - whether it’s sorting a night out or helping you find your way through life’s next crossroad.
Eddie Cheng, president of Yell.com, said: “Yell.com is for many the first port of call to find essential businesses and services in the UK. When you take a close look at the data, you can see very unusual and unexpected peaks in searches which happen at surprising points in the year – and so by examining our users’ search habits, we can anticipate when in 2007 UK web users are going to be facing some of the biggest decisions of their lives.”
Yell.com 2007 Diary
| Date | Day most likely... and relevant Yell.com search terms | |
| January | 5 9 30 | Find a new job Recruitment and employment agencies Book a holiday Travel agents and services Embrace a new life Divorce |
| February | 13 | Plan a proposal |
 | | Wedding |
| 22 | Crave a kiss |
| | Kissograms |
| March | 13-15 | Get a new look Plastic surgery |
| May | 25 30 | Think about emigrating Embassies and consulates Buy holiday home Relocation and overseas property |
| July | 5 25 | Go green Solar energy Try something new Tattoos and piercing |
| August | 8 29 | Plan a party Party organisers Gaze into the future Psychics and clairvoyants |
| November | 6 and 24 | Get Spiritual Places of worship |
| December | 7 | Lose Your Inhibitions Naturism |
Yell.com top searches (Jun - Nov 06)
| 1 | Restaurant/s |
| 2 | Estate Agent/s |
| 3 | Hotel/s |
| 4 | Hairdresser/s |
| 5 | Pub/s |
| 6 | Solicitor/s |
| 7 | Doctor/s |
| 8 | Dentist/s |
| 9 | Builder/s |
| 10 | Garage/s |
* Full statistics are available for each search term, results based on analysis of Yell.com searches during 2006.
