Revealed: Most popular 'Shropshire' Google searches

The phrase 'Shropshire Star' is searched for more than 200,000 times a month on Google, meaning the newspaper tops a poll of the 100 most popular Shropshire keywords.

Research shows the paper gets more than seven times the number of monthly searches as the second most popular keyword 'Shropshire'.

Selected searches per month:

Shropshire Star: 201,000

Shropshire: 27,100

Shropshire Council: 18,100

Shropshire Star news: 8,100

Shropshire fire and rescue: 2,900

Shropshire County Council: 1,600

Shropshire weather: 1,300

Shropshire Hills: 1,300

Shropshire Lad: 1,000

Shropshire Radio: 880

Shropshire libraries: 880

Shropshire Wildlife Trust: 880

Shropshire Community Health: 880

Shropshire school holidays: 880

Shropshire FA: 880

Shropshire Union Canal: 720

Shropshire Mud Run: 480

Shropshire planning applications: 390

Shropshire blue: 390

Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre: 390

Shropshire holiday cottages: 390

Shropshire Aero Club: 390

Shropshire Shuffler: 320

Shropshire sheep: 320

Shropshire cricket league: 320

Shropshire walks: 320

Shropshire term dates: 210

Shropshire music service: 210

Shropshire weather forecast: 140

Shropshire lad rose: 140

Shropshire blue cheese: 110

Shropshire road sweepers: 90

Shropshire Slasher: 90

The study into Google searches involving our county was carried out by digital marketing expert Helen Culshaw.

Other phrases making the top 20 search list are Shropshire Council, Shropshire Fire and Rescue, Shropshire Petals, Shropshire weather, Shropshire Hills, Shropshire jobs and Shropshire homes.

But there were also some surprises, with Looney Tunes and Daffy Duck baddie Shropshire Slasher making it into the top 100 searches.

A Shropshire Lad, the collection of poems about the county by poet AE Housman, is among the most searched titles.

And beauty spots like the Shropshire Union Canal are also popular.

Ms Culshaw, managing director of Ascendancy Internet Marketing in Shifnal, said: "The research is really fascinating and has thrown up some quite unexpected and quirky results.

"The Shropshire Star is by far the most searched for term on Google that includes the word 'Shropshire'.

"It demonstrates that the Shropshire Star is a very powerful brand."

The research was carried out by Ms Culshaw and her team as a bit of fun.

However, more and more businesses are opting to invest in keyword research to boost search engine rankings.

Ms Culshaw said: "Google fields more than 100 billion search queries per month from people all over the world.

"Searches can be for anything and everything, so for businesses to stand a chance of ranking in organic searches, websites need to be properly optimised for appropriate keywords."

The list can be viewed at www.ascendancyinternetmarketing.com/shropshire