Google released its Year in Search 2021 report on Wednesday to reveal the key search trends of the year in India and around the world. While cricket remained at the top of the charts this year, with the ‘Indian Premier League’ and ‘ICC T20 World Cup’ taking the top positions in the overall list of leading searches in India, searches for ‘CoWIN’ and ‘Covid Vaccine’ also became trending. high in the country, the search giant said. Battle Royale game Garena Free Fire emerged as the only game entry to reach the overall trending list in the country.
Top Trending Topics on Google Search in 2021
In India, ‘Indian Premier League’, ‘CoWIN’, ‘ICC T20 World Cup’, ‘Euro Cup’ and ‘Tokyo Olympics’ were the top five trending search topics on Google in India in 2021. The latest wave of COVID -19 in the country forced many internet users to use Google to search for COVID vaccines and hospitals. Searches for “oxygen cylinders” and “CT scans” also witnessed a spike in “near me” searches this year as people searched for solutions to fight the deadly virus. Likewise, questions about food delivery, tiffin services and takeaways also rose on Google this year, the company said.
Trending ‘How’ and ‘What is’ searches on Google
In addition to the general trending topics, the “how” and “what is” search categories on Google have been largely dominated by COVID-related searches in India this year. People actively searched for questions such as how to register for ‘COVID vaccine’, ‘how to download a vaccine certification’ and ‘how to increase oxygen levels’. Here are this year’s top three ‘how to’ searches.
In ‘what is’ searches, queries such as ‘what is Black Fungus’ and ‘what is remdesivir’ topped the list. Searches such as “what is the Taliban” and “what is the faculty of a hundred” were also among the top searches.
Trending Personalities of the Year on Google
Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra became the most trending personality on Google in India this year, thanks to his landmark performance at the Tokyo Olympics. He was followed by Aryan Khan – the son of Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan – who made headlines over an alleged drug case.
Tesla founder Elon Musk and celebrities like Vicky Kaushal, Shehnaaz Gill and Raj Kundra were among the trending personalities on Google in 2021.
Trending Movies of the Year on Google
Regional cinema managed to grab the attention of Google users in India this year, as the Tamil drama film Jai Bhim surpassed the other films on the film list, followed by the Bollywood titles Shershaah, Radhe and Bell Bottom. Hollywood movies, including Godzilla vs Kong and Eternals, were also among the most popular movies of the year in the country.
Trending recipes on Google
Since people mostly stayed at home for the first few months of the year, many of them seem to have used Google to search for new recipes. The most popular recipes on Google in India this year were ‘Enoki Mushrooms’, although ‘Modak’ and ‘Cookies’ were also among the top searches. Google also found home-cooked staples like “Methi Matar Malai” and “Palak,” as well as immunity-boosting “Kada” among the top recipes searched for on its website this year.
Trending sports events on Google
Just like the overall top trends, Google said the Indian Premier League, ICC T20 World Cup and Euro Cup were the top three sporting events searched on its site in India. These were followed by the Tokyo Olympics and the Copa America.
Trending news events on Google
The Tokyo Olympics was also the dominant trend in the “news events” category on Google in India this year. It was followed by Black Fungus, news about Afghanistan, elections in West Bengal and tropical cyclone Tauktae.
Global trends
In addition to the main trends in India, Google revealed the main search trends around the world. These come from over 70 countries and include ‘Australia vs India’ as the main search trend, followed by ‘India vs England’, ‘IPL’, ‘NBA’ and ‘Euro 2021’.
It is important to note that Google 2021 Year in Search search results do not directly suggest the most searched queries on its site. The company instead considers the searches to be the trending searches with a high spike in traffic over a “sustained period” in 2021 compared to 2020. The algorithm that compares the percentage increase in trending searches also takes into account a minimum threshold to very small search volume does not appear in the list.
Last year, “coronavirus,” “US election results” and “PM Kisan Yojana” were among the top searches on Google, although “Indian Premier League” took over all other searches and emerged as the most popular search.
Google rival Yahoo also recently unveiled its Annual Report for India for 2021, which named Narendra Modi, Virat Kohli, Mamata Banerjee, Sidharth Shukla, Rahul Gandhi and MS Dhoni as the most searched personalities in its search engine. Yahoo also named Farmers’ Protest that has been going on for over a year, as well as Aryan Khan, 2021 Union Budget of India, Raj Kundra and Black Fungus as some of the top newsmakers of the year.