Google Search Year in Review 2021: Who and What we searched for this year

As the year draws to a close, the retrospectives are coming out in force showing how we spent our year listening to, watching and more. Now it’s time for Google to see what we searched for this year.

Our search histories are a microcosm of events both personal and shared, with many events this year bringing us together. Events like the death of Australian legend Bert Newton, or the abduction and recovery of Cleo Smith, saw us come together to mourn and celebrate. But search is more than that, and we can and do search for anything from our favourite gnocchi recipe, or find out who the best female tennis player in the world is ;).

Google has split the results from their 2021 search results, showing local results for Aussies across a broad range of topics. 

In general our sporting interests featured heavily in the top 10 overall searches in Australia, with the NBA, AFL, NRL, Euro 2021, Wimbledon, the Olympic medal tally and Australia vs India on the list. Apparently crypto is of interest as well, clocking in at number 9 on the list. Our heritage as a constitutional monarchy showed with the Prince Philip rounding out the top 10.

Overall searches
1. NBA
2. AFL
3. Australia vs India
4. NRL
5. Euro 2021
6. Wimbledon
7. Olympic medal tally
8. COVID NSW
9. Coinspot
10. Prince Philip

In the news, of course COVID was a feature for news with searches for COVID topics for NSW, QLD and Victoria prominent. Notable people featured in the top ten, with Cleo Smith, Alec Baldwin, William Tyrell, Bert Newton and Christian Porter – with the rare Melbourne earthquake rounding out the top ten.

News events
1. COVID NSW
2. Cleo Smith
3. QLD COVID update
4. Alec Baldwin
5. Coronavirus Victoria
6. William Tyrrell
7. Bert Newton
8. Christian Porter
9. Afghanistan
10. Melbourne earthquake

Being locked down for a good part of the year, many of us turned to cooking for some comfort and there’s a top 10 here too. Gnocchi, Guacamole and Curried snags topped the list, with Anzac biccies coming in fourth. There’s a lot of deliciousness there, but I’ll be steering clear of the brussel sprouts for now.

Recipe(s)
1.Gnocchi recipes
2. Guacamole recipe
3. Curried sausages recipe
4. Anzac biscuits recipe
5. Negroni recipe
6. Lamb shank recipe
7. Brussels sprouts recipes
8. Minestrone soup recipe
9. Rocky road recipe
10. Tzatziki recipe

Not into cooking? Apparently we turned to learning new skills and DIY in 2021. Lists for questions we asked Google show what Aussies spent their time doing this year. 

We asked Google how to buy crypto (Dogecoin!), with many of us dining in more there were searches for how to get Uber Eats. COVID related topics featured for how to get the vaccine, and ensuring wour records are linked after it’s done.  DIY projects saw face masks understandably take a prominent place, as well as some neat projects like paper plane and boat making, as well as making slime or fake blood. Once we were allowed out, Aussies wanted to kick their heels up, with Dance classes topping the lists of classes and lessons.

Lastly, we all learned a few things this year with hot topics leading to searches for Insurrection and Sedition, as well as getting into what in the heck a NFT and ROC is. There is of course a spike in searches for Omicron given recent events.

Meanings and definitions
1. Emancipated meaning
2. Insurrection meaning
3. Gaslighting meaning
4. NAIDOC meaning
5. NFT meaning
6. Omicron meaning
7. Frigid meaning
8. Narcissist meaning
9. ROC meaning
10. Sedition meaning

The search results for Aussies are an interesting lens through which we collectively saw 2021. I’ve certainly searched a number of the How to’s but haven’t quite made it into many others, although I now have a few ideas if I get some spare time.