• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, December 3, 2013

It's pretty obvious that questions would fuel searches across Ask.com, but this year searches became a bit more intellectual, asking about everything from the typhoon in the Philippines to Obamacare and Mohamed Morsi. Content became more popular and important. It prompted the Q&A engine to launch a content marketing experiment called theKnow, a destination for all of the answers to the questions you never knew you had. The site reveals tidbits like the voice behind Apple Siri.

TheKnow.ask.com focuses on content. (By the way, the original voice of Siri is Susan Bennett.) The company calls the site its "first truly unique editorial destination." During its short life, which began in October, it has helped to fuel searches and questions on Ask.com.

An Ask.com spokesperson might tell you different. She said the site wasn't created in response to search queries, but instead as a branding strategy to test how different content experiences impact consumers' view and engagement with the brand. The ultimate hope is a branded content experience like theKnow can spark questions and drive more searches on Ask.com, but that's not yet the case. TheKnow features its own editorial staff and calendar that isn't designed to intersect with Ask news – but in this case, the search engine's top viral videos/memes list was great editorial fodder.

It would work to spark searches on Ask.com, in my opinion. The more information you give some people, the more they want to know. At least the inquisitive ones. In fact, people questioned many of this year's events such as the Royal Baby's name, the Boston Marathon bomber, whether the U.S. would invade Syria, how to help victims of the Philippines typhoon, why was George Zimmerman acquitted, who was the Navy Yard shooter, did Oscar Pistorius kill his girlfriend, who did Ariel Castro kidnap, how far in debt is Detroit, and why did Pope Benedict step down.  

Top political searches questioned the United States government shutdown, the whereabouts of Edward Snowden, why Proposition 8 was thrown out, who Anthony Weiner sexted, Obamacare, NSA, Bradley Manning's sentence, why was Mohamed Morsi overthrown, who is on trial for Benghazi attacks, and did the Toronto Mayor smoke crack.

Video also played a major role this year, fueling searches across news and entertainment categories on Ask.com. Dove Real Beauty Sketches, Emotional Baby Starts Crying At Mom's Singing. Ryan Gosling Won't Eat His Cereal, Chris Hadfield's Space Oddity, and Goats Screaming Like Humans Scream: Taylor Swift were the top five trending videos.

When it came to entertainment, the top questions surrounding celebrity searches were why Kim and Kanye named their baby North West, what Miley Cyrus did at the VMAs, how Cory Monteith died, what Paula Deen said, why Amanda Bynes was arrested, is Lamar Odom on drugs, when is the "Breaking Bad" series finale, where can I see Reese Witherspoon’s arrest, who will play Christian in Fifty Shades of Grey, and did James Gandolfini die.