2013 was an intense, volatile year, and this year's Google Zeitgeist video has a whole range of emotions and locations, featuring Pope Francis, Paul Walker, South Korea and the Free Syrian Army, among others.

"Paul Walker" was the top trending search of the year worldwide.

The Fast and Furious actor’s sudden passing made him Australia’s top trending search for 2013, followed in second by former Glee star Cory Monteith. The Royal Baby, Prince George of Cambridge, now third in succession for the British throne, similarly came in at number three on this year’s overall top trending list, Google said in a blog post.

Also making the top 10 were searches about North Korea, information about how to stay safe from fires with the RFS, and registering to vote with the AEC. Three Australian reality TV shows, The Block, My Kitchen Rules, and House Rules also made the year’s top trending list.

Major news searches about people included interest in the Royal Baby’s name and Angelina Jolie’s mastectomy, and we were also searching for Boston bombing, Typhoon Haiyan, Oklahoma tornado and Russian meteor. The US government shutdown, Costa Concordia situation and news about North Korea also piqued Aussie’s interest.

Miranda Kerr beat out Michelle Bridges and Tom Waterhouse to take out the title of Australia’s most-searched celebrity. Paul Walker, Cory Monteith Nelson Mandela, Tony Abbott and Oscar Pistorius were the top five trending people from around the world.

In this election year, how to vote made it into the top 10 ‘how to’ list. Voters jumped online to find out more information about prospective candidates, with Tony Abbott, Kevin Rudd and Clive Palmer our top three trending politicians.

Sonny Bill Williams took out the title as the most-searched athlete, with Federer and Lebron James taking out the silver and bronze. Local sports teams Sydney Swans and Essendon Football Club were outplayed by Chelsea to take out the most-searched sports team of 2013.

This year Australians also turned to Google to ask some tough questions including who is God, did dragons exist and where is Timbuktu.

Check out Google's worldwide Zeitgeist video in full below, and for more info see its Zeitgeist page here.