Google Search: Punctual as Christmas in December, Google’s report summarises which terms were the most clicked on on the year on the globe’s most popular search engine. Big G works by divisions, separating searches between the various countries and listing a series of top 10s on people, passings, politicians, sports, films and TV series, culinary recipes, meanings and the most curious questions to give a snapshot of what happened during the year. By putting the threads together, Google’s various rankings tend to recount protagonists and themes that have characterised the previous months.
To make the end-of-season summary more interesting, with Year in Search, Google no longer indicates the most clicked terms in an absolute sense because otherwise, there would be constant repetitions with names of apps, social media and better-known companies. Instead, the report considers the words, people, events and curiosities that saw the greatest increase in queries made by users during 2024. Which was the year of the US elections, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the fall of the French government, the Paris Olympics, and the European Football Championship. Recurring themes in the online searches of many European citizens.
France
We start with France, the European country that has been the most talked about during the year. Among the general search trends, the French show enormous interest in sports, as the top three topics are the 2024 European Football Championship, the Olympic Games and the African Football Cup. In the first case, the surge in enquiries is also due to Mbappé and his teammates being eliminated by Spain in the semifinals.
The Olympics demonstrated the organisational success of Paris, which has created many inconveniences for its residents (I was in the city three times before the start of the event, and it was not easy to get around due to the many open construction sites), but has left joy in the hearts of fans from all over the world who came to the French capital to follow their favourites. As for Africa’s most important football event, political tensions aside, France maintains the umbilical cord that binds it to the Dark Continent, not least because the best African footballers often begin their European careers by landing in France. In fourth place are the American elections, while closing out the top five is Michel Blanc, the actor and director who passed away last October.
Among public personalities, it was Michel Barnier who attracted the most clicks. The former EU commissioner, who led the UK’s exit from the European Union, was appointed head of the French government, but his run stopped after just three months. In second position is Kendji Girac, a singer who became popular in 2024 after winning the talent show The Voice. The clicks did not come for his singing qualities, however, because Girac made headlines after he faked suicide; the reason? To scare off his girlfriend, who was planning to leave him. Rounding out the podium is Kate Middleton, who is back in public after chemotherapy. The Princess of Wales appears in the rankings of many countries, a sign that time has passed, but the British royals continue to make headlines.
As anticipated, France and sport have travelled hand in hand in recent months, with many athletes dominating the online searches of their compatriots. Above them all is Leon Marchand, a swimmer who has won five Olympic medals in the pool (four gold and one bronze). Behind him is judo legend Teddy Riner, who finished his fifth Olympics with two medals and became a global judo icon. Third place went to Imane Khelif, a boxer who dominated her category and was much discussed because of her strength and different chromosomes to women. After her is Lamine Yamal, Barcelona’s ace and one of the most decisive in Spain’s success at the European Championships last summer.
Among the most interesting categories in France, which are not identical for each country as search trends are obviously different, is ‘How to use AI‘, with the primary interest in PowerPoint creation, followed by CV writing and correcting errors in a text.
Germany
The search for general terms with the greatest increase over the past tells us that Germans, like the French, are mainly interested in sports and politics. That the European Football Championships lead the ranking is not surprising. Germany was the host country, so many cities found themselves in the news, hosting great footballers and many European fans. It may come as a surprise to outsiders, but much less to those who know the passion of the Germans, that the second most searched term is handball, a sport little known in some European countries and instead very popular in Germany, where there are excellent facilities, millions of practitioners and a warm cheer in the stands.
Completing the podium are the US elections, with the duel between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, while in fourth position is Franz Beckenbauer, the most successful German footballer in history, an example of greatness on and off the pitch, who passed away last January. This time, with the EU elections, closing out the top 5 is politics again. There is a German-American crossover to characterise the ranking of the most prominent online personalities. Ahead of everyone is Stefan Raab, TV host, comedian and singer, who owes the peak in clicks to his return to the scene after a long silence, so much so that his last public outing was in 2018. Behind him came the star-studded trio Harris-Biden-Trump, followed by Ralf Schumacher, brother of the better-known Michael, who won the media limelight for coming out via social media.
Among the missing personalities behind Beckenbauer, the Germans were struck by the death of Liam Payne, singer of One Direction, and then by the premature farewell of Alexei Navalny. As for the most clicked questions, first place was given to the reasons for the farmers’ strike, while on terms whose meaning is unknown, the most searches focused on talahon (a trend born on TikTok), which preceded the confidence vote, the caliphate, Dubai chocolate and dropshipping.
United Kingdom
Also among the British, the European Football Championship 2024 was the event that attracted the most interest across the board, preceding Liam Payne’s death and Jay Slater’s death in general searches. Of the One Direction singer, we have said that the disappearance of the 19-year-old bricklayer, found dead last July in Tenerife, shocked the people led by King Charles, both because of the victim’s young age and the complexities that followed his death, which according to an autopsy came as a result of traumatic head injuries, possibly resulting from a fall from a height.
In fourth place is another farewell, that of Michael Mosley, physician and later science journalist and TV presenter. Known for having written The Fast Diet, the landmark book on the ‘5:2 diet’, which requires a minimum calorie intake two days a week, the 67-year-old died in circumstances that have yet to be clarified on the Greek island of Symi, where he had gone on holiday with his wife.
If we talk about the British and VIPs, we can only talk about the royal family, which leads the ranking of the most clicked characters thanks to Kate Middleton. Behind her are Donald Trump and Luke Littler. Almost everything is known about the former, while the latter is the richest 17-year-old in England because he is the reigning champion of Premier League Darts, the Grand Slam and the World Series Finals. In two words, a child prodigy who has made the whole country fall in love. No sportsperson has generated as many clicks as Littler, who topped the list ahead of Yamal, Simone Biles and Jude Bellingham.
The British are among the people who search online more than others for information on when certain events are scheduled. Of these, the most interesting turned out to be the election of the American president, followed by Coronation Street and the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul.
There was also much nationalism in ‘How…‘, with national voting topping the list, ahead of the request for information on buying Oasis concert tickets and TV options for watching the boxing match between Fury and Usyk.
Italy
Music and sport are two of the topics Italians search for the most on Google. Surprisingly, among the people who have recorded the highest peak growth compared to the past, at the top is the singer Angelina Mango, winner of the Sanremo Festival and star of the summer with the song La Noia. Second place for Kate Middleton and third position for Jasmine Paolini, the tennis player able to climb the WTA ranking and become the fourth strongest player in the world, thanks to the finals reached at Wimbledon and Roland Garros. Then more musicians in the top 10 with Ghali, Geolier, Allevi, Mahmood and Rose Villain.
One event that attracted interest was the conflict between Israel and Palestine, with lots of research aimed at understanding the reasons behind the war and Iran’s intervention against the Israelis, but also to find out the meaning of ‘All eyes on Rafah‘, one of the most popular hashtags of the year on Instagram.
Unlike other countries, in Italy, there is always a ranking of recipes because eating is the most important part of the day for Italians. For a country rich in regional specialities, what is new compared to the past is the presence of foreign dishes, such as crumbled cookies and spaetzle. Space was also given to cinema, with a double list of films and TV series, a sign that in the Boot, the viewing of titles on streaming platforms is among the highest of the European average: Inside Out 2 in the first case and Baby Reindeer in the second, were the most clicked shows.
One last note: Google’s rankings have become a fixture over the years, proving valuable sources for understanding what topics attract the most attention and what drives people to seek information on specific facts, people and things. Looking at the evolution of the tech market, will we continue to discover the annual report with the most clicked terms on Google every year? Because AI is running and with ChatGTP Search, perhaps there will no longer be the monopoly we have become accustomed to.
