Google has revealed its Year in Search review. This 14th annual review shows the most popular searches from 2014. Robin Williams, the World Cup and Ebola took the top three spots for trending searches in 2014. In tech the Apple iPhone 6 took pole position.
With more than a trillion searches registered in 2014, the search giant's list consists of a number of search categories ranging from global news to consumer electronics. It sheds light onto what the Internet generation are thinking and searching about, and reflects overall how global crises co-mingle with pop culture trends and celebrities on the Internet this past year. These searches are "trends" however, which do not necessarily reflect the most searched terms overall, rather these are the terms which exploded in popularity at certain times.
The top 10 global trending searches are listed below, with the top 3 spots filled with the comedy actor who tragically died earlier this year, The World Cup where Germany was crowned winner after beating Brazil 7-1, and the deadly disease which saw its largest outbreak of all time.
- Robin Williams
- World Cup
- Ebola
- Malaysia Airlines
- ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
- Flappy Bird
- Conchita Wurst
- ISIS
- Frozen
- Sochi Olympics
In consumer electronics, Apple's iPhone 6 took the top search trend spot, followed by the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the Google Nexus 6.
It is interesting to see the appearance of Microsoft's Xbox One in the top 10 trending tech terms, especially when Sony's PlayStation 4 didn't make the list, despite dominating the sales figures. Looking back Microsoft's next gen console was probably more newsworthy and a hotter topic in some ways, which were not always positive.
- iPhone 6
- Samsung Galaxy S5
- Nexus 6
- Moto G
- Samsung Note 4
- LG G3
- XBox One
- Apple Watch
- Nokia X
- iPad Air
In the UK specifically, we saw Brits being curious about the ALS ice bucket challenge. Furthermore Malaysian Airlines lost two passenger planes in separate incidents this year. Luis Suarez's bite of the Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup featured high up, as did the Scottish independence referendum.
- Ebola
- ALS
- Malaysia Airlines
- Luis Suarez Bite
- Scottish Independence Referendum
- Cliff Richard
- Celebrity Photo Hack
- Oscar Pistorius
- Michael Schumacher
- Frank Maloney
The millions of Google searches represent what is on the minds of a large percentage of the public, as evidenced online. "Google’s Year in Search gives us the best snapshot of what moved, inspired, shocked and intrigued us in 2014," Google's Stephen Rosenthal said. "With so many of us now having multiple computers, phones and tablets immediately to hand, these results are the most accurate and comprehensive collection of what the UK’s been talking about this year."
