People are weird. Honestly, if you spent five minutes looking at the raw, unfiltered stream of what billions of humans type into that little white box every second, you’d probably lose a little faith in humanity—and then immediately gain it back. We use Google as a confessional, a doctor, a spellchecker, and a crystal ball.
What are the top looked up things on google? It's not just a list of celebrities. It’s a mirror.
When you look at the data coming out of Google Trends, you see these massive tectonic shifts in what we care about. One day everyone is panicked about a banking crisis, and the next, we’re all collectively trying to figure out if you can actually grow a pineapple from a store-bought top (you can, but it takes forever). It’s chaotic. It’s human.
The Staples: Things We Never Stop Searching
There are some things that just never go away. They are the background radiation of the internet. Navigation queries dominate the charts every single year without fail. It’s kinda funny, actually. Millions of people type "YouTube" or "Facebook" or "Gmail" into the Google search bar instead of just typing the URL into the address bar.
Why do we do that? Habit. Laziness. Maybe a bit of both.
Weather is the other giant. "Weather tomorrow" is a permanent resident in the top ten. It doesn't matter if we have apps on our phones that send us alerts; we still ask Google. We want that second opinion. We want to know if the picnic is ruined.
Then you have the "How to" searches. These are the backbone of the internet's utility. "How to tie a tie" has been a top performer since the dawn of the search engine. It’s a rite of passage. "How to lose weight" is another one that spikes every January 1st like clockwork before trailing off into a sad whimper by Valentine's Day.
The Viral Spikes and the "Main Character" of the Week
The top looked up things on google change drastically when someone famous does something stupid or incredible. We call this the "Main Character" effect.
Last year, it was all about the "Eras Tour." If Taylor Swift sneezed in a specific zip code, search volume for that city skyrocketed. But it's not always entertainment. When the Silicon Valley Bank collapse happened, people who didn't know what a "liquidity ratio" was suddenly became amateur economists overnight. Search volume for "FDIC insurance limits" hit heights usually reserved for Super Bowl scores.
Politics drives these spikes too, obviously. During election cycles, "Where do I vote" becomes a literal lifeline. But it’s the weird, niche stuff that catches you off guard. Remember the "Wordle" craze? For a solid year, the top search in several countries was just a five-letter word game. People weren't just searching for the game; they were searching for the answer because they didn't want to lose their streak. It was a global exercise in collective cheating.
The Rise of AI and the "Is It Real?" Era
Recently, there’s been a massive shift toward searches involving artificial intelligence. People aren't just looking for ChatGPT; they’re looking for "AI art generator" or "Will AI take my job."
There is a palpable sense of anxiety in the search data.
We’re also seeing a huge uptick in "is [blank] real?" queries. With deepfakes getting better and the internet becoming a hall of mirrors, Google has become our ultimate fact-checker. We see a video of a giant octopus attacking a bridge in Dubai and our first instinct—rightly so—is to ask Google if it actually happened. Usually, it didn't.
Beyond the Obvious: The "Near Me" Phenomenon
If you want to know what people are actually doing with their lives, look at the "near me" searches. This is where the digital meets the physical.
- "Gas station near me"
- "Food near me"
- "Psychic near me" (yes, really)
- "Emergency room near me"
These searches have grown by over 500% in the last few years. We’ve outsourced our spatial awareness to the algorithm. We don’t look for signs anymore; we look for blue dots on a map. This is where Google makes its real money, connecting a hungry person with a taco bell at 2:00 AM. It’s the most practical application of search technology, and yet it’s the one we think about the least.
Health, Anxiety, and Dr. Google
We have to talk about health searches. It’s a huge portion of the top looked up things on google, and honestly, it’s a bit of a problem.
Mayo Clinic and WebMD are some of the most visited sites on the planet because we all have a tendency to turn a minor headache into a terminal diagnosis after three clicks. But there’s a nuance here. People are increasingly searching for mental health resources. "Symptoms of burnout" and "anxiety relief" have seen steady climbs.
It’s not just about physical ailments anymore. We are using search to self-diagnose our souls.
The complexity of these searches is increasing. People aren't just searching for "sore throat." They’re searching for "sore throat no fever but ears hurt." They want specific, granular answers that a general search result sometimes struggles to provide. This is why Google has been pushing those "featured snippets" from verified medical sources at the top of the page—to stop us from thinking we're dying when we just have a common cold.
📖 Related: Who is Navdeep Singh? The Story Behind NeetCode
Sports and the Global Language of Scores
Sports are the ultimate search engine filler. On any given Saturday, the top trending topics are almost entirely football (soccer for the Americans) or cricket scores.
The Premier League is a search juggernaut.
When the World Cup happens, the internet basically breaks. The search volume for "World Cup bracket" or "Who won the game" is so massive it dwarfs almost everything else. It’s one of the few times the entire world is looking for the exact same thing at the exact same time. It’s a global campfire.
Why We Search What We Search
Why does this matter? Because search data is the most honest dataset in existence.
Social media is a performance. We post what we want people to think of us. We share the fancy dinner and the filtered vacation. But search? Search is private. Nobody sees your Google history (hopefully). In that search bar, we are our truest selves. We are curious, scared, bored, and hungry.
📖 Related: How to Save Videos on Google Drive Without Pulling Your Hair Out
When you see that "how to make a sourdough starter" was a top search in 2020, you don't just see a baking trend. You see a world that was stuck at home, lonely, and looking for something to nurture. When you see "AI" topping the charts today, you see a world that is bracing for a massive technological shift.
Actionable Insights for the Curious
If you want to stay ahead of what the world is thinking, don't just wait for the yearly "Year in Search" video. You can actually use this data.
- Use Google Trends Daily: If you’re a business owner or a creator, Google Trends is free. Use it. See what people are actually asking about in your niche. If you sell hiking gear and "best easy trails" is spiking, write about that.
- Filter by Location: The top looked up things on google in New York are vastly different from those in rural Nebraska. Use the "compare" feature to see regional interests.
- Look for "Rising" Topics: Instead of looking at the top volume (which is usually just "Facebook"), look for the "Rising" category. These are the breakout trends before they hit the mainstream.
- Audit Your Own Search: Take a look at your own history once in a while. It’s a great way to realize where your time and mental energy are actually going.
- Don't Believe Everything: Just because something is a top search doesn't mean the top result is the whole truth. Always cross-reference, especially for health or financial advice.
The internet is a big, messy place. But by watching the search trends, you can at least see where the crowd is headed. Whether it's a new crypto scam, a viral recipe for pasta, or a genuine global crisis, the search bar will always be the first place the story starts to unfold.
Keep your eye on the trends, but don't get lost in them. Sometimes the most important things in life are the ones you don't need to search for at all.