Harry Potter & the Order of Searches

Posted on June 13, 2003

It's been three years since the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth in the popular children's book series, and judging by the searches on Yahoo! Search, the magical spell remains unbroken. With the release of the fifth book due out in several days (June 21st), Yahoo has released some of the most popular and most interesting Harry Potter related search keywords and phrases entered into its search engine.

When the fourth book launched in 2000, 62 percent of Harry Potter related searches were performed by those age 12 and under compared to just 10 percent in the 13-17 age group. With the debut of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix just around the corner, searches across all age levels have increased, with the number of searches in the 13-17 age bracket almost tripling to 29 percent, indicating that the Harry Potter phenomenon has only strengthened its appeal beyond just young readers.

Some interesting Harry Potter search terms seen on Yahoo! Search include:

Harry Potter lexicon (encyclopedia of the Harry Potter universe organized by topic)
Harry Potter and the Green Flame Torch (a fictional Harry Potter story written by a fan)
Harry Potter personality test (tests to find out which Harry Potter character is most like your personality)
Cross stitch Harry Potter (book of cross stitch patterns based on Harry Potter scenes)
Censorship in Harry Potter (The banning of Harry Potter books in some school districts that furnishes on ongoing First Amendment debate)
Drawings of Snape in Harry Potter (Fan-art of Professor Severus Snape)

The top related searches to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix are:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (the third Harry Potter book is slated to come out as a movie on June 4, 2004)
Harry Potter 5
Leaky cauldron (community of fans who use weblogs, zines and other online media to stay in touch and share information)
Harry Potter Fanfiction (fan sites where fans write their own Potter-related stories. With enough sites popping up, there is now a dedicated category in the Yahoo! Directory)
Gary Oldman (will play Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
David Thewlis (will play Professor Remis Lupin in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
J K Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Michael Gambon (will replace the late Richard Harris as Professor Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
Rupert Grint (plays Harry's trusty sidekick, Ronald Weasley)