Google’s 2023 Recap: Top Searches from January – December

Mason Vera Paine

Google trends expert Justin Burr joins the Mason Vera Paine show to speak about the top searches on Google in 2023. From news to recipes and everything in between, we will be exploring what got everyone talking and Googling this year. For the 2023 Year in Search visit: Trends.Google.com/TrendsFollow Twitter on Google at: Twitter.com/GoogleLike Google on Facebook at: Facebook.com/GoogleLike and Follow Google on Instagram at: Instagram.com/Google https://75dc83.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/17.-Justin-Burr-Google-Year-End-Trends.mp3 Google Year End Review 2023 Transcription 00:00 – Announcer: Mason Vera Paine. 00:01 - Mason Paine: 2023 is almost over and what an eventful year it's been. Joining me to break down the top searches on Google and entertainment, sports, pop culture news and more is Google trends expert Justin Burr. Thanks for joining me, Justin. 00:14 - Justin Burr: Hey, thanks so much for having me. 00:16 - Mason Paine: This year, there's been so much that has happened. I don't even know where to start other than what's the biggest trend, I guess. 00:24 - Justin Burr: It's so fun to look back at the year and what people were searching and what the trending searches were. If we look at the news category, it's always a bit of a somber category or just a little bit more serious because people are coming to Google to figure out what is happening in these specific instances. Number one trend in 2023 was the war in Israel and Gaza. Then we had the Titanic submarine and Hurricane Hillary rounding out the top three in the news category. The thing that all of those things have in common is that they are fluid, they are something that is evolving. That's why we see these trending... These trending searches so high on the list because people are coming back to Google repeatedly to get updated information, especially in the context of natural disasters. We see those high on the trending search list every single year because people are figuring out what's happening, how to stay safe, what is the latest and the greatest in terms of that context. 1:19 - Mason Paine: Yeah, that's pretty true. I know one of the things that affected here in Chicago was the Canada wildfires because it actually got super smoggy for a while out here. I think it happened in New York and a lot of the upper states in America. 1:32 - Justin Burr: Yeah, that was on the newest category, the number 10 trending search was Canada wildfires. Yeah, in New York City, there was one day where you couldn't be five feet in front of you. The smoke was so thick. It was really wild. I think people were probably searching for that quite a bit to understand what the air quality was, what the buyers were doing, and how to maybe avoid it. 1:55 - Mason Paine: Now, one of the categories that I was really interested in, because I didn't realize so much had happened, was the passing. I'm like, Man, there's a lot of people that had passed. I thought that was like a year or two ago, but no, it was this year. 2:07 - Justin Burr: It's always interesting to look at folks that left us this year and what search interest they drove. So yeah, Matthew Perry coming in at number one, obviously very tragic, beloved by many from the television show, Friends, said Tina Turner. Number two, Jerry Springer. Number three, and the other top 10 categories, Bob Barker. So, yes, some sad departures this year, but yeah, it is interesting to remind yourself who passed this year. And yeah, it does feel like some of those folks were... It was longer ago, but no later than 2023. 2:38 - Mason Paine: Yeah, the ones that affected me was Bob Barker and Jerry Springer. As a kid, when you were homesick, those were the two shows you would watch all day long. And so not having them, it was like, Wow. I don't think that they weren't on air anyways, but it was just the fact like a piece of my childhood just went away. And it was like, And then Suzanne Summer's.