Google has released its “Year in Search” for 2017, offering up more than 40 top ten lists for searches in the U.S. and globally. The search terms are ranked based on the top trending searches that saw the highest spike in traffic over a sustained period in 2017 compared to 2016.
In the U.S., the No. 1 top trending search term was “Hurricane Irma” — it also ranked No. 1 on the top trending global searches, and top news searches in 2017.
In addition to “Hurricane Irma,” “Hurricane Harvey” also made showed up in the top overall searches and top news searches in the U.S., as did “Las Vegas Shooting” and “Solar Eclipse.”
“Many of our trending questions centered around the tragedies and disasters that touched every corner of the world,” says Google, “In these moments and others, our collective humanity shined as we asked ‘how to help’ more than ever before.”
For U.S. top searches, Google released a number of categories, covering everything from the top searches overall, to the top searched people, athletes, how-to searches, actors, movies, consumer tech and even the top searched celebrity break-ups of the year.
Former Today Show news anchor, Matt Lauer, who was was fired in November by NBC over inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace, was the No. 2 top searched term overall in the U.S., as well as the No. 1 top searched person, followed by Meghan Markle.
Markle ranked as the No. 1 top searched actor, most likely the result of her engagement to England’s Prince Harry, which was announced in late November.
The top how-to search was “How to make slime,” and the top athlete search was Floyd Mayweather. The iPhone 8 beat the iPhone X for top searched consumer tech, and the top searched celebrity break-up of 2017 was, “Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell breakup.”
Here are a selection of Google’s year-in-search lists from the U.S.
Top 10 Searches Overall
- Hurricane Irma
- Matt Lauer
- Tom Petty
- Super Bowl
- Las Vegas Shooting
- Mayweather vs McGregor Fight
- Solar Eclipse
- Hurricane Harvey
- Aaron Hernandez
- Fidget Spinner
Top 10 People Searches
- Matt Lauer
- Meghan Markle
- Harvey Weinstein
- Michael Flynn
- Kevin Spacey
- Bill O’Reilly
- Melania Trump
- Kathy Griffin
- Milo Yiannopoulos
- Gal Gadot
Top 10 News Searches
- Hurricane Irma
- Las Vegas Shooting
- Solar Eclipse
- Hurricane Harvey
- Bitcoin Price
- North Korea
- Hurricane Jose
- Hurricane Maria
- April the Giraffe
- DACA
Top 10 Consumer Tech Searches
- iPhone 8
- iPhone X
- Nintendo Switch
- Samsung Galaxy S8
- Razer Phone
- iPhone 8 Plus
- Super NES Classic
- Google Pixel 2
- Apple Watch 3
- Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Top 10 How-To Searches
- How to make slime
- How to make solar eclipse glasses
- How to watch the solar eclipse
- How to watch Mayweather vs McGregor
- How to buy Bitcoin
- How to freeze your credit
- How to solve a Rubix Cube
- How to make a fidget spinner
- How to cook a turkey in the oven
- How to screen record
Top 10 Celebrity breakups in 2017
- Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell breakup
- Malika Haqq and Ronnie Magro breakup
- Dutchess and Caesar breakup
- Aaron Rodgers Olivia Munn breakup
- Kylie Jenner and Tyga breakup
- Lindsey Stirling and Ryan Weed breakup
- Chris Pratt and Anna Faris breakup
- Nick Viall and Vanessa Grimaldi breakup
- Amy Schumer and Ben Hanisch breakup
- Lady Gaga and Taylor Kinney breakup
For global searches, Google put together 15 different categories of the top trending search terms. Many mirrored the results of the top searches in the U.S., with “Hurricane Irma” at the top of the list for global searches overall and “Matt Lauer” leading the top searched people list.
The top searched global news stories was also “Hurricane Irma.” This list was nearly the same as the U.S. version, except it included a search for “Manchester” in place of “DACA.”
Top 10 Searches (Global)
- Hurricane Irma
- iPhone 8
- iPhone X
- Matt Lauer
- Meghan Markle
- 13 Reasons Why
- Tom Petty
- Fidget Spinner
- Chester Bennington
- India National Cricket Team
Top 10 People Searches (Global)
- Matt Lauer
- Meghan Markle
- Nadia Toffa
- Harvey Weinstein
- Kevin Spacey
- Gal Gadot
- Melania Trump
- Floyd Mayweather
- Michael Flynn
- Philippe Coutinho
Top 10 News Searches (Global)
- Hurricane Irma
- Bitcoin
- Las Vegas Shooting
- North Korea
- Solar Eclipse
- Hurricane Harvey
- Manchester
- Hurricane Jose
- Hurricane Maria
- April the Giraffe
You can find Google’s full list of 2017’s top U.S. searches and global searches on the Google Trends website.
About The Author
Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media’s General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land and Marketing Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy’s articles.