According to Google’s search trend experts, the search engine processes 1.2 trillion searches a year. That’s 40,000 searches per second. That’s each and every little mundane question you could possibly have, coursed through a single internet source.
To determine the most searched-for topics in a year, Google releases an annual ‘Year in Review’ that takes a step back to consider the year’s top searches and organizes it thematically. In 2017, the ‘Year in Review’ celebrated ‘how’ as the most used word and its encapsulation of people’s “desire to understand, and ultimately improve the world around us.”
But in 2018, here’s the word searched for: ‘good’. Simon Rogers, Google News Lab’s Data Editor, explained it this way:
“During a year of highs and lows, the Year in Search highlights all the ways people continued to search for ‘good’—and this year, it was more than ever […] We searched for good news of championships, medal counts, and royal weddings, and sought out bright spots throughout the year. We also searched for how to be a good citizen, how to be a good friend, and how to be a good dancer.”
Find it a little hard to believe that ‘good’ truly topped people’s searches? Watch the video below to put your doubt to rest:
In a year that was filled with so much heartbreak and conflict, people still looked for the good in any situation. Despite divisive politics and terrible calamities, it’s uplifting to know that everyone’s first instinct is to help, or aid, or even try to change things. Good things are still worth searching for, after all.
What was your most searched query this 2018?
