With Christmas just around the corner and holidays to look forward to, it is also a time to reflect on the year that has passed and the same applies to our online activity as Google Trends has confirmed the hot topics of the year in its end-of-year wrap-up. 

From news to people, sports, celebrities and deaths, all the subjects that get us talking are reflected in what we search for. Google’s Year in Search reveals all, with several themes and subjects categorized.

These results are based on the top trends caused by surges in what people are looking for at a particular time, rather than the overall most-searched terms.

In the United States, the news genre has been dominated by the recent outbreak of conflict in the Middle East. War in Israel and Gaza has returned a flurry of searches, charging ahead of the term ‘Titanic Submarine’, the June incident involving a submersible vessel tragically imploding during an expedition to view the wreckage of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Other terms in the top five of news were dominated by climate events in the form of Hurricane Hilary, Hurricane Idalia, and Hurricane Lee.

The “vs” category which generally consists of sports contests was topped by NBA activity with Lakers vs Warriors coming first in the poll ahead of Lakers vs Nuggets.

Strong European presence in Google Trends

Meanwhile, in terms of global results, there were some overlaps but also differences in the relevant trending search results.

In the news, the War in Israel and Gaza was on top, with Titanic Submarine in second place, followed by Turkey Earthquake followed by two of the previously mentioned hurricane events.

2023 saw many people in the public eye pass away, and as happens every year, there is plenty of interest in the lives and times of those who brought us joy, entertainment, and a sense of familiarity. Matthew Perry and Tina Turner topped the global list of passings, just as they ranked high in the US.

In the “Top Parks” search, a strong European presence was evident in the searches with the top five consisting of Park Guell – Barcelona, Spain,  coming out on top ahead of Central Park – New York, USA, Hyde Park – London, UK, El Retiro Park – Madrid, Spain, Villa Borghese – Rome, Italy.

All of these search terms and more can be found in the full list of the top Google trends of 2023.

Google’s Year in Search 2023 – Trends

US – News

1) War in Israel and Gaza
2) Titanic submarine
3) Hurricane Hilary
4) Hurricane Idalia
5) Hurricane Lee
6) Maine shooting
7) Nashville shooting
8) Maui fire
9) Idaho murder trial
10) Canada wildfires

US – People

1) Damar Hamlin
2) Jeremy Renner
3) Travis Kelce
4) Tucker Carlson
5) Lil Tay
6) Andrew Tate
7) Carlee Russell
8) Jamie Foxx
9) Danny Masterson
10) Matt Rife

Global – News

1) War in Israel and Gaza
2) Titanic submarine
3) Turkey earthquake
4) Hurricane Hilary
5) Hurricane Idalia
6) Hurricane Lee
7) Maine shooting
8) Nashville shooting
9) Chandrayaan-3
10) War in Sudan

Global – People

1) Damar Hamlin
2) Jeremy Renner
3) Andrew Tate
4) Kylian Mbappé
5) Travis Kelce
6) Jenna Ortega
7) Lil Tay
8) Danny Masterson
9) David Beckham
10) Pedro Pascal

Graeme Hanna