Tag Archives: Search

2023 in Google Searches

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Source: Statista

2023 has been eventful, to say the least, and a look at the biggest trending Google searches this year can serve as a reminder for some of the events and situations that have shaped our world over the last 12 months.

At the top of the trending news-related searches was the war in Israel and Gaza. The second fastest growing news search term was “Titanic submarine”, referring to the implosion in which the five people on board the OceanGate submarine, on trip to the wreckage of the Titanic, died. The third most-popular term was “Turkey earthquake” – the natural disaster which struck Turkey and Syria in February, claiming almost than 60,000 lives.

In less earnest events, the world of entertainment provided plenty reason to turn to Google. For many, 2023 was the year of Barbie. The movie was a hit at the box office and also displayed the highest growth in search volume for the year, followed by its opening weekend rival, Oppenheimer. In terms of music, “Shakira” was the term trending the most.

One person, Damar Hamlin, made it to the top of two categories – people and athletes – after the NFL player suffered a cardiac arrest while participating in a January 2 game for Buffalo Bills. He went on to make a full recovery. Sadly, not all of the world’s well-known and popular people made it to the end of 2023. The most high profile passing, at least in terms of Google Search queries, was that of actor Matthew Perry.

Infographic: 2023 in Google Searches | Statista

Google Takes Lion’s Share of Search Ad Revenues

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Source: Statista

For more than 20 years, Google‘s search engine has served as the world’s primary entryway to the internet, helping billions of people navigate the vast amounts of information available online. While there have always been alternatives – Lycos, AltaVista in the early days, Yahoo, Bing and DuckDuckGo more recently – Google’s de-facto monopoly has been unchallenged for most of that time.

And it’s been a wonderful time for Google/Alphabet and its shareholders. Last year alone, Google Search generated more than $160 billion in advertising revenue, making search to Alphabet what the iPhone is to Apple: the product that laid the foundation for the company’s long-lasting success and its trillion-dollar valuation.

According to estimates from Statista Market Insights, Google claimed almost 60 percent of global search advertising revenues last year. Chinese Baidu was the second largest player in the search advertising market with a share of 15 percent, followed by Amazon with 14 percent. In case you’re wondering when Amazon got into search engines: the company is making billions in advertising revenue from keyword advertising and paid search results on its own platform, which are included in Statista’s definition of search advertising.

Infographic: Google Takes Lion's Share of Search Ad Revenues | Statista

What’s at Stake in the Fresh Battle for Search Dominance

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Source: Statista

The release of OpenAI’s conversational chatbot ChatGPT late last year set off the alarm bells at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, as the company’s management viewed the nascent technology as a serious threat to its core search business. To make things worse, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is working closely with Microsoft, one of Google’s last remaining competitors in the search market (if you can even call it competition).

And sure enough, Google’s worst fears with respect to ChatGPT became reality on Tuesday, when Microsoft announced a new Bing running on a next-generation OpenAI model that is “more powerful than ChatGPT” and customized specifically for search. “AI will fundamentally change every software category, starting with the largest category of all – search,” Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement, calling the AI-powered versions of Bing search and Edge browser “an AI copilot for the web.”

That announcement was arguably the most obvious attack on Google and its search business since the launch of Bing in 2009. And while one could argue that Bing’s arrival hardly made a dent in Google’s dominance, this time things feel differently, as technological shifts have often coincided with shifts in the balance of power – just ask Nokia. But even if Google successfully manages to defend its dominant position in the search market, losing just a couple of percentage points in market share would translate into billions of dollars in lost advertising revenue. According to estimates from Statista’s Digital Market Insights, global search advertising revenue amounted to $260 billion last year and could climb to $400 billion by 2026.

Infographic: What's at Stake in the Fresh Battle for Search Dominance | Statista