Google’s top trends have been revealed, showcasing the most popular queries and curiosities Aussies were searching throughout the year. 

The search engine trends reveal a lot about 2022 – word games, weather warnings and war. Google searches allow people to explore what went through our minds during the year. ‘Wordle’ has been crowned as the most searched on Google in Australia this year. The word game gained popularity over the course of the year, as many opted to use the search engine to directly access the website. 

Aussies have been through natural disasters and crises, with results reflecting the tough year. Communities in Australia have been hit with floods, with searches including ‘floods’, ‘La Niña’, and ‘when will the rain stop’. Google has outlined that search interest about floods in Australia increased more than 200 percent compared with previous years, with La Niña’s interest topping over 80 percent. Other natural disasters that were popular to search for were the Tonga volcano eruption and tsunami warnings. The war in Ukraine featured in the overall top five search trends in Australia. Interest peaked in February as the war broke out, as Western Australia searched ‘Ukraine latest’ the most. 

Health searches

After years of lockdown, COVID-19-related topics stuck around, but also expanded to include searches for Monkeypox and Japanese encephalitis. The most searched questions were, ‘how do you get monkeypox’ and ‘symptoms of monkeypox’. As the Omicron variant lingers in Australia, people were searching ‘how long for omicron symptoms to show’ and ‘difference between delta and omicron’.

The top ten for news events of 2022:

1. Ukraine
2. Election results
3. Omicron symptoms
4. Monkeypox
5. Tonga
6. Tsunami warning
7. Novavax Australia
8. Cassius Turvey
9. Covid update Perth
10. Japanese encephalitis

Google trends allows us to giggle over the “Why Is…..?” questions.

1. Why is Russia invading Ukraine
2. Why is plain yoghurt good for females
3. Why is petrol so expensive
4. Why is lettuce so expensive
5. Why is there a lettuce shortage
6. Why is diesel so expensive
7. Why is crypto going down
8. Why is Camilla queen consort
9. Why is Australia not part of NATO
10. Why is Snapchat not working

Aussies’ national love for sport

As the World Cup dominates sports news, surprisingly the Australian Open was the most searched sport. Tennis was once again on our minds as Djokovic, Nadal and Medvedev topped the global figures list. Australia’s very own tennis champion, Ash Barty topped the trending Australian individual in 2022. 

1. Australian Open
2. World Cup
3. Ashes
4. Winter Olympics
5. Rugby League World Cup
6. Indian Wells
7. Commonwealth Games
8. ATP Cup
9. AFLW
10. NBL