The royal wedding rules Google's top searches

William and Kate's big day was most searched new term while Facebook remained overall winner

Prince William's and Kate Middleton's April nuptials attracted the fastest-rising number of Google searches in Britain last year.

"Royal wedding" beat "iPhone 5" in the internet giant's annual survey of the most inquired about new terms.

The Duchess of Cambridge was also one of the most Googled celebrities but finished behind Adele, whose album 21 dominated this year's pop charts. The singer was second in a category for the fastest-rising people behind Ryan Dunn, 34, the star of the US show Jackass, who died in a car crash.

Other terms to show a sharp increase in interest included the computer game Fifa 12 and Groupon.

The discount firm, the royal wedding and Adele were named part of Google's Zeitgeist for 2011 – an accolade to show what has been engaging the minds of the UK's internet users. Facebook was overall the most searched term. The results excluded queries related to pornography or other adult material.

Google said it demonstrated how users turned to the search engine to "satisfy their appetite for celebrity pictures and salacious gossip".

But it showed that people also use it to learn about loftier matters such as the alternative vote system.

In a list of "What Is?" queries, AV – the subject of a referendum this year – came first, beating burning questions such as "What is scampi?", "What are truffles?" and "What are piles?". The top "How to?" inquiry was revise – ahead of snog, wallpaper and sleep.

Cyber hits: The fastest rising searches

1. Royal wedding

2. iPhone 5

3. Fifa 12

4. Groupon

5. iPad 2