What you need to know
- Google has released its annual Year On Search results for 2022.
- The company highlights the top trending searches throughout the year in various topics.
- Google now lets users view trending searches for towns and cities with a new local hub.
With the year coming to a close, Google is showcasing its annual Year on Search results for 2022, revealing the top trending searches worldwide.
As usual, Google separates these searches into various categories to make them a bit more palatable. For example, we have top trending searches overall, followed by news, people, movies, songs, and much more.
For the top overall search, that honor goes to Wordle, which took the world by storm with its daily puzzles. The game was eventually bought by The New York Times earlier this year, but it continues to be played by many. The game even inspired many "spin-offs" like Sheetle, which takes Wordle and puts it on Google Sheets.
Top people and actors had a few overlapping figures, including Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, who were locked in a very public trial. Chris Rock and Will Smith were also among the top five trending for both categories following the incident at the 2022 Academy Awards.
Google also lets you view top trending searches for apps like Lens, Maps, and Hum to Search.
It's often been the case that users could view global search trends and select various countries to view the trending searches in their regions. However, the company now has a new local hub that allows users to check trending searches for towns and cities within the United States.
For example, where I am in Seattle, Washington, the top trending term was "air quality near me," resulting from wildfire smoke that affected much of the Pacific Northwest earlier this year. "Marry me chicken" was a top recipe, while Seattle apparently searched for "rap" more than any other genre of music.
Google's Year in Search 2022 joins other end-of-year roundups, such as Google Play's Best of 2022, A Year on YouTube, and YouTube Music's 2022 Recap.
