Robin Williams' death the top Google search this year

Robin Williams' suicide seared into the world's collective mindset more than anything else this year, based on what people were searching for on Google.

The reaction to Williams' death in August topped Google's list of this year's fastest-rising search requests. It beat notable events such as the World Cup, the Ebola outbreak, the March disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 and the Ice Bucket Challenge, an internet video craze to raise awareness and money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Other topics of worldwide intrigue on Google included the addictive smartphone game Flappy Bird, bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst, the Middle East extremist group Islamic State, the hit Disney movie Frozen and the Winter Olympics in Russia.

Williams, Ebola, the World Cup and the Ice Bucket Challenge also ranked among the most discussed subjects this year on Facebook, which released its list last week. Google released its list on Tuesday.

Williams' death drove many people to reminisce about his career highlights. In the first few days after his suicide, there was a six-fold increase in the number of Google searches for carpe diem - a Latin phrase for "seize the day" that Williams popularised in the film Dead Poets Society.

Reports about Williams' battle with depression caused searches for that term to triple. There was also a flurry of searches about his movies, the top five being Mrs Doubtfire, Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, Jumanji and Patch Adams.

Google's worldwide list of the year's hottest search requests mirrored the activity in the US with a few exceptions. Wurst didn't make the top 10 list in the US, nor did the Winter Olympics. Instead, web surfers in the US were seeking more information about the August confrontation that culminated in a white policeman shooting and killing Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Ukraine's conflict with Russia also held more intrigue in the US than the rest of the world.