Google’s Year in Search 2024: What Does It Teach Us About Search Habits?

Google recently released it’s annual “Year in Search” data, detailing the top ten searches across a range of topics. As well as the global overview, users can drill down into individual countries to find out what the top searches were in their region.

All very interesting data in isolation, a little bit like a nationwide “Spotify Wrapped” for Google searches, but by scratching away at the data and making a few connections, you can quickly build up a picture of how people search and how marketers could use this logic to influence our own efforts.

Let’s take a dive into some of the information for the UK and consider what it means.

The top ten searches

Starting with the top ten searches gives us a really strong insight into what people in the UK really cared about during 2024, and immediately starts to link to other categories:

1. Euros
2. Liam Payne
3. Jay Slater
4. Michael Mosley
5. US election
6. Kate Middleton
7. Baby Reindeer
8. Olympics
9. Oasis tickets
10. Fool Me Once

“Euros”

The number one position was unlikely to be anything else. The UK is a nation of football fans, so searches around the Euros were a sure bet for dominating search in 2024.

As well as the overall search term for “Euros”, we can see further top searches within other categories, notably:

When is…

• The Euros final
• England playing next
• The World Cup

In isolation, these searches teach us about the mindset of searchers. They’re looking for specific information about their team. Given that England made it through each stage, people were also more interested in when they would be playing next. In a year when England notably reached the final, interest in the final was bound to be high. Then, we have to assume that when England lost in the final, people started looking for the next opportunity for football to “come home”.

This information perhaps won’t be particularly useful to marketers, who are already used to coming up with related questions against broader topics. However, of the top searched athletes in the UK during 2024, five were European footballers.

1. Lamine Yamal
2. Jude Bellingham
3. Ollie Watkins
4. Cole Palmer
5. Nico Williams

Looking at Google trends data shows a very clear picture: Searches for the five footballers peaked during the Euros.

Ollie Watkins notably scored a last-minute winning goal against Netherlands in the Euro semi-final on 10^th July, matching up perfectly to his spike in search. Jude Bellingham, meanwhile, was mostly being searched so people could find out what gesture he made in the England vs Slovakia game.

The takeaway:

So, what can we learn from all this? There’s no doubting that the main topic was hugely popular, but there were clear human stories which grew as a result of the Euros. People wanted to be involved, and interest in some of the footballers became mainstream, if only for a short period. The lesson for marketers is: Find the human-interest point, and you can capture attention. Also, embrace reactive content as quickly as you can, you might be the best resource for the information everyone else hasn’t thought to search for yet.

Liam Payne, Jay Slater, Michael Mosley & Kate Middleton

If there is one thing people invest time and emotion into, it’s a mystery. People hear news about a person, and they want to know more. In this case, we’re dealing with:

• The death of Liam Payne
• The disappearance of Jay Slater
• The disappearance of Michael Mosley
• The lack of public appearances by Kate Middleton

In the case of Liam Payne, the news of his passing was unexpected and would have resonated with millions of One Direction fans across the country (leading One Direction to be the 3^rd most searched term in “musicians” in the UK during 2024).

Jay Slater and Michael Mosley both started off as cases of “missing persons”, with public speculation driven to a high as more pieces of information were released. People were quite naturally trying to “solve” the mystery.

The same is true of Kate Middleton. Her absence from public appearances was intriguing, especially as a member of the (typically) very visible royal family. Add in a slightly poorly timed photoshop edit on a photo of her and near frenzy levels of interest were created.

In the case of the Google Trends data for these searches, again you can see very brief periods of intense interest.

The takeaway:

While marketers can’t (and shouldn’t) try to leverage any information around missing people, losses or people seeking privacy, there is a lesson to be learned from this topic. People love a mystery, yes. But more than that, people love to discuss the mystery with other people. This natural drive to delve into a mystery, and discuss it with the rest of their community, does present an opportunity for marketers. You can build anticipation and interest very effectively by slowly and strategically introducing small pieces of information and letting word spread.

Baby Reindeer & Fool Me Once

It’s safe to say that one show captured the attention of the UK public during 2024: Baby Reindeer. As well as opening speculation around one particular mystery (“Who is the REAL Martha?”), the show’s creator, Richard Gadd, become the 8^th most searched person in the UK during 2024.

Again, this natural correlation of interest can be seen in Google Trends data, as people enjoyed the show and tried to find out more information about its creator:

The same can be seen with Fool Me Once and Michelle Keegan. People’s interest in the series created a correlated interest in its star, Michelle Keegan:

This feeds into the same pattern as the Euros: People were enjoying something, and wanted to know more about the people involved, so search activity trickled down to those topics too. Perhaps most interesting are the top searches from within those topics, which were:

• Martha baby reindeer
• Michelle keegan coat fool me once
• Fool me once michelle keegan outfits

The takeaway:

We can see the intrigue in the mystery around Martha, but we can also see people wanting to replicate the outfits seen in a show. As a marketer, being aware of the latter and getting ahead of the game could be a great opportunity to gain brand awareness, particularly in search. A similar trend could also be achieved with Martha’s outfits, albeit perhaps with a focus on Halloween.

Politics

Here’s where the data gets even more interesting! The 5^th most searched for term across the entire UK during 2024 was “US Election”, with related terms such as “when is the US election” and “Donald trump” also appearing top in the “when is” and “people” sections.

Again, there is huge correlation between the topics, with the earlier spike for Donald Trump aligning with the assassination attempt back in July. This data in itself probably isn’t that surprising.

However, the UK had its own general election in July. You might think this would be high on the agenda of the people of the UK, given that it is more likely to directly affect their lives than the US election. Despite this, the topic is almost nowhere to be found.

Keir Starmer is the 4^th most searched person in the UK for 2024, “when is the general election” was the 9^th most asked “when is” question, and “how to vote in the UK” was the top “how to” question, but other than that, the event went widely ignored.

Given the result of the election, interest in Kier Starmer makes sense, as does the phrase “how to vote in the UK”, as people tried to find out how to drive political change. However, we also know that the 2024 UK election featured the lowest voter turnout since 1928, suggesting that people may not have cared all that much about the event.

Meanwhile, interest in “When is the budget” was 2^nd only to “when is the US election”, painting a picture of what the population of the UK really care about: Money in their pocket. People may have approached 2024 thinking that their vote wouldn’t make a difference, but that the announced budget would definitely impact them.

The takeaway:

What can marketers learn from this? Two things:

1. The thing you think people will care about might not be the thing people care about.
2. People will always care about direct impacts on their lives, especially their pocket.

This all feeds into something marketers have known for years: Focus on how things make people feel and remember that not everything you do will work as well as you thought it would.

Oasis tickets

The reunion of two musical brothers, famous for their hatred of each other and their refusal to ever play together again. Everything around the Oasis reunion gigs paints a compelling narrative and taps into another crucial aspect of creating demand: scarcity.

People who never thought they would see their favourite band play live, people who want to relive their youth, and even the people who want to attend just to say they were there; they all have something in common. They’ve been given an opportunity to have something they never thought they would get.

Oasis was the most searched term in the UK in the musicians category during 2024. Beating out big names like Sabrina Carpenter, One Direction, Dave Grohl, and Chappell Roan to claim the top spot. Why? Because they’ve tapped into scarcity. “Get it now, while you can.”

In fact, “how to get oasis tickets” was the 2^nd most searched phrase in the “how to” category of search, beating “how to see the northern lights” by a huge margin, despite the latter also being an incredibly rare event in the UK. The northern lights lacks narrative, though. The story of the reunion is so compelling that everyone wants to be part of it.

The interest in the topic was relatively short lived, with a huge spike correlating with the announcement of the reunion. Digging down a little further paints the true impact, though.

Interest in Oasis has sustained at a slightly higher level than before the announcement, driving awareness and probably sales. The Gallagher brothers are probably already profiting from the announcement, without playing a single note together. In fact, they could theoretically call off the reunion entirely and still pocket additional royalties.

The takeaway:

What’s the lesson for marketers? Scarcity sells. Consider the Disney vault and even the McRib. By making something unavailable for a period of time, you can bring it back to huge applause and excitement, even if people aren’t asking for it. No one I have ever spoken to has mentioned the McRib, but McDonald’s bring it back and suddenly everyone wants it before it goes away again. It’s no coincidence.

Taking search into 2025

The key takeaway from all this information is very simple: Search habits change, people don’t. People want to be involved in the same things everyone else is, they want to find out more about topics, they’re inspired by the things they see, and they will 100% put their hands in the pocket to buy a McRib they don’t really want, budget be damned.

By considering every aspect of search, and embracing reactive and emerging trends during 2025, businesses could find a way to leverage trends to suit themselves, and end up riding a cultural wave. The catch? You have to be bold. You can’t hang around and go through processes and get sign off. You have to meet the sentiment while it’s still relevant, and have confidence in what you’re doing. It might not always work, but if you find your niche, there are huge victories to be won.

Want to talk marketing tactics? Contact us today to start the conversation!