This time last year, Australians didn't officially have access to Netflix.

However, since the streaming service was launched locally in March, 2015 had proved to be the year Australians had "Netflix and chill" on their minds.Netflix scored top spot in Google's trending search terms for the year, and took second place in Bing's search tally.

More than half of this year's top Google searches were sports related. Australia's wins in the Asian Cup and the Cricket World Cup, and former UFC champion Ronda Rousey's Melbourne visit were among the top 10 trending searches.

However, the Rugby World Cup final ranked highest, despite the loss to New Zealand.
Tragedy led the trending news searches as the Paris terror attacks took the No.1 spot. The executions of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran put "Bali 9" second..

Natural disasters Cyclone Marcia and the Nepal earthquake also made the list, at fourth and eighth, respectively.
Mick Fanning's encounter with a great white meant searches for "shark attack" reached an all-time high.
Google Australia spokesman Shane Treeves said people were increasingly using search engines to learn more about stories and events reported in the news.

"When Australians first hear about major news moments, many are prompted to search for more information to better understand what's going on," he said."This year, when Nanna's frozen berries made headlines in February, searches for 'hepatitis A' spiked five times around the world.

"On a lighter note, Australians also wanted to find out more about news on the royal baby and the Pluto fly-by."
Jarryd Hayne's NFL debut for the San Francisco 49ers helped the sportsman become the top trending Australian this year, while Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull secured the second spot.

Former NBA player and Keeping Up with the Kardashians star Lamar Odom was the top search among international celebrities, presumably because of his collapse at a Nevada brothel.

Other searches featured actor Charlie Sheen, who confirmed being HIV-positive; and The Fast and the Furious star Paul Walker, who died in a car crash in 2013, and Whitney Houston's daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, 22, who died this year.

One of the more interesting "Who is . . .?" searches was "Who is the prime minister of Australia?"; probably a reflection of the political musical chairs in Canberra this year.

And while some Australians were checking on overseas sites, such as Tunisia, Mali and Gallipoli, others were searching closer to home with "Where is Home and Away filmed?".

Curiously, "Where is Perth?" made it onto the list of location-based searches, falling five places after being ranked third last year.
Australian also used Google as a "How to . . ." guide, utilising the search engine to help knot a tie, poach eggs, make paper planes and take screenshots on Apple Macs. Pancakes topped the most sought recipe.

Some asked the big questions this year such as "What is the meaning of life?". They also wanted to know "Where is Chuck Norris?" and "What is all-purpose flour?". However, others, rather surprisingly, wanted to know "What is a noun?" and "What is the time?".

On a more positive note, many improved their vocabularies with new digital-related words like Agar.io, Periscope and Dubsmash. All are mobile apps.Rival search engine Bing, which is powered by Microsoft, followed Google's lead with Netflix and the Rugby World Cup as the most popular searches. Princess Charlotte's arrival, Justin Bieber's nude photos and One Direction's time out topped celebrity news searches.


GOOGLE'S TOP 10 TRENDING SEARCHES

1. Netflix
2. Rugby World Cup
3. Lamar Odom
4. Ronda Rousey
5. Asian Cup
6. Jarryd Hayne
7. Jurassic World
8. Paris
9. Cricket World Cup
10. Agar.io​


BING'S TOP 10 TRENDING SEARCHES

1. Rugby World Cup
2. The arrival of Netflix
3. Cricket World Cup final
4. Princess Charlotte was born
5. Taylor Swift
6. Jarryd Hayne joins the NFL
7. State of Origin
8. Paris terror attacks
9. Justin Bieber
10. Kim Kardashian