One quick note first: of the three major search engines, Bing is the only one featuring an Irish theme or logo today.  Which makes Google and Yahoo seem guilty of a rather large oversight.

Anyway, a post on the Yahoo Search Blog stated, “Searches for ‘st patrick’s day shirts’ are up 182% this week on Yahoo! and 67% of searches are by females. . . .  Searches are up 118% this week on Yahoo! for ‘celtic women.’  Searches for ‘celtic symbols,’ ‘celtic tattoos’ and ‘celtic crosses’ are all spiking this week on Yahoo!. . . .  Searches for ‘shamrock’ are up 20% this week . . .”

Then the post delved into some food-specific info, continuing, “Searches this week on Yahoo! are up 380%  for ‘corned beef recipes,’ and up 120% for ‘cabbage recipes.’  Also spiking: ‘stuffed cabbage’ and ‘how to cook corned beef.’”

As for the subject of beer, Budweiser and Bud Light unfortunately continue to be the top two brands Yahoo users have searched for, but Guinness at least came in third.

Of course, there are region-specific differences in the popularity of St. Patrick’s Day, and Yahoo noted that folks in Boston, Chicago, and New York are particularly excited about it.  Festivals in Texas are getting a lot of attention, too.

Finally, to recap some other recent, Ireland-related news, we’ll note that Google’s becoming more active in the country, acquiring Green Parrot Pictures and buying an office building in the last month.

Microsoft has also taken the opportunity to map out the routes for St. Patrick’s Day parades and highlight items like Irish pubs in Live Search Maps.

Here is a parade route and some points of interest for Boston:

And New York:

And Chicago:

Microsoft also points to its MSN food channel – Delish, which is chock full of St. Patrick’s Day recipes today:

Search Engine Roundtable looks at Microsoft’s and many others’ St. Patrick’s Day designs in the search industry. Keep an eye on your inbox for the WebProNews newsletter today, which goes beyond the green links we have added to our site and includes an entire St. Patrick’s Day design theme, complete with a picture of me as a leprechaun. If that’s not enough of a draw, it’s also got some tips for getting more conversions out of your web site. By the way, if you’re not signed up for the newsletter, sign up!