Revealed: Australia’s Most Googled Phrases In 2018

In a year dominated by sporting tournaments and royal weddings, the nation’s World Cup streaming woes and My Health Record debacle still managed to float to the top as Aussies turned to Google for advice in 2018.

In a sports-loving country, it’s little surprise that “World Cup” and “Commonwealth Games” ranked first and second among the top terms Googled by Australians this year.

With the internet giant accounting for more than 90 per cent of local online searches, it’s fair to say that Google has its finger on the pulse of the nation. Although it’s important to note that Google’s annual list of Australian searches consists of what it calls “trending” topics; that is queries that had the highest spike in traffic over a sustained period in 2018 as compared to 2017. So terms that are highly popular all year every year are not included.

Desperate Aussie sports fans demanded to know “Why is Tim Cahill not playing tonight?” as the Socceroos failed to make it past the World Cup group stage for the third consecutive tournament.

Curious fans also wondered “Why is State of Origin on Sunday?”, while keeping a close eye on the antics of disgraced West Coast Eagle “Andrew Gaff” and former Australian cricket captain “David Warner”.

Those who weren’t sure asked “What is ball tampering?”, presumably wondering about Warner and not “Barnaby Joyce”. Joyce topped the list of Australian figures who we searched for online, while “Scott Morrison” and “Peter Dutton” came in second and third. Their comrade Malcolm Turnbull didn’t even rank a mention in the top 10.

Meanwhile, the disaster that was Optus Sport’s flaky World Cup streaming coverage — an own goal that left fans in the lurch after the pay TV giant locked away the rights to many matches — saw Aussies turn to Google to ask “How to watch World Cup in Australia”.

Embarrassingly for the government, looking for ways to watch the World Cup was still only the second most popular “How to” search phrase this year. At the top of the list, Australians concerned about their privacy demanded to know “How to opt out of my health record”. Giving up in despair they decided to try their luck elsewhere, next asking “How to win Powerball”.

It was also the year that Aussies tuned into the royal wedding as Meghan Markle tied the knot with Prince Harry. The Duchess of Sussex topped the list of searches for global figures, while “Royal wedding” landed the top spot in the list of news events followed by “Thai cave rescue”, “Wentworth by-election” and once again “My health record”.

Health-conscious Aussies decided to lift their game this year, asking “How to lose weight fast” and “How to lose belly fat”. They were clearly serious, with “Keto recipes” topping the list of recipe searches.

Desserts are noticeably absent in the top food-related searches which, in contrast to previous years, include only savoury dishes and ingredients. This year’s menu features hearty classics such as corned beef and chicken curry, along with vegetarian ingredients including eggplant, tofu, beetroot and couscous.

Despite all our online research it seems we’re still struggling to come to terms with tech. Australians still want to know “What is bitcoin” and “What is blockchain”, plus they’re still wondering “why is my internet so slow”. That last search is likely to remain popular with Australians for at least a few more years.

Australia’s full trending lists for 2018

Overall

  1. World Cup
  2. Commonwealth Games
  3. Meghan Markle
  4. Avicii
  5. Coinspot
  6. Anthony Bourdain
  7. US Open Tennis
  8. Mac Miller
  9. Bitcoin price
  10. Black Panther

News events

  1. Royal Wedding
  2. Thai cave rescue
  3. Wentworth by-election
  4. My health record
  5. Beaumont children
  6. Hawaii volcano
  7. California fires
  8. Listeria
  9. US midterm elections
  10. Blood moon

Global figures

  1. Meghan Markle
  2. Demi Lovato
  3. Freddie Mercury
  4. Khloe Kardashian
  5. Logan Paul
  6. Tristan Thompson
  7. Hailey Baldwin
  8. Sylvester Stallone
  9. Khabib
  10. Travis Scott

Aussies

  1. Barnaby Joyce
  2. Scott Morrison
  3. Peter Dutton
  4. Billy Slater
  5. Craig McLachlan
  6. Vikki Campion
  7. David Warner
  8. Chopper Read
  9. Nick Cummins

Andrew Gaff

Loss

  1. Avicii
  2. Anthony Bourdain
  3. Mac Miller
  4. xxxtentacion
  5. Stan Lee
  6. Kate Spade
  7. Aretha Franklin
  8. Burt Reynolds
  9. Jessica Falkholt
  10. Eurydice Dixon

How to…?

  1. How to opt out of my health record
  2. How to watch World Cup in Australia
  3. How to win Powerball
  4. How to delete Instagram
  5. Google Arts and Culture face match how to
  6. How to buy bitcoin
  7. How to lose weight fast
  8. How to screenshot on iPhone X
  9. How to delete Facebook
  10. How to lose belly fat

What is…?

  1. What is bitcoin
  2. What is listeria
  3. What is ligma
  4. What is hazing
  5. What is a mud room
  6. What is the capital of California
  7. What is open on Good Friday
  8. What is Diwali
  9. What is blockchain
  10. What is ball tampering

Why is…?

  1. Why is State of Origin on Sunday
  2. Why is it called Good Friday
  3. Why is Russia OAR
  4. Why is Australia Day Jan 26
  5. Why is Tim Cahill not playing tonight
  6. Why is ANZAC Day important
  7. Why is Australia Day celebrated
  8. Why is my internet so slow
  9. Why is Nick Cummins called the honey badger
  10. Why is my poop green

Recipes

  1. Keto recipes
  2. Beef stroganoff recipes
  3. Chicken curry recipes
  4. Frittata recipes
  5. Gnocchi recipes
  6. Risotto recipes
  7. Chicken soup recipes
  8. Fried rice recipes
  9. Omelette recipes
  10. Beef stew recipes

“How to cook…?”

  1. How to cook corned beef
  2. How to cook eggplant
  3. How to cook tofu
  4. How to cook silverside
  5. How to cook beetroot
  6. How to cook rice in the microwave
  7. How to cook corn
  8. How to cook couscous
  9. How to cook crayfish
  10. How to cook barramundi

This article originally appeared in Digital Life, The Sydney Morning Herald’s home for everything technology. Follow Digital Life on Facebook and Twitter.

Comments


Leave a Reply