Whitney Houston was the most searched for name on Google in South Africa in 2012, it was reported on Thursday.

According to Julie Taylor, communications manager for Google in Africa south of the Sahara, people were also very interested in airline Velvet Sky, which went bankrupt earlier this year.

Taylor said a recent study done to find out more about the Google habits of South Africans focused in particular on popular search terms over a 12 month period, it was reported.

After News24, the most popular news website proved to be Beeld.

Taylor said abstract search terms were also used frequently, and the question “What is love?” was highlighted as the most popular search term in the “What is…?” category.

Other popular searches in the same category included what is HIV, what is poverty, what is cancer and what is technology?

Over the past 12 months, other popular names and search terms were Caster Semenya, Olympics 2102, Hurricane Sandy, How to kiss? and How to study?.

“We have a dedicated team of engineers who make more than 500 annual improvements to our website to make it as user-friendly as possible,” Taylor said.

By Sapa