Google Releases The 2015 Year In Search

18-12-2015Tags: Marketing Insight

Google has released its annual Year in Search feature, outlining what users have searched for most over the past twelve months.

According to the search engine giant, the 2015 Year in Search "uncovers the moments that captured the world's hearts - and questions that revealed who we are". As an expansion of Google Trends, 2015 represents the most insightful release of the annual feature so far - "covering hundreds of news stories, sharing interactive guides and charts, and diving into the numbers".

Interactive elements

With access to downloadable datasets and interactive elements, the 2015 Year in Search could be further utilised for outlining current and future trends. By analysing categories and charts relevant to your industry, the feature could provide additional substance to macro-environmental analysis for SMEs. An example of this can be found within original Google blogpost. The chartat the bottom shows the biggest news stories this year in search - as an interactive element, you can click to explore the stories in more detail.

Top Charts

What began as a US-centric feature, the 2015 release enables users to view the top-searched topics by country, month or category. For example, the Top Charts delve much deeper than previous releases, allowing the user to discover top trending female celebrities, holiday destinations or sporting events of the past year.

"Struggle for identity"

A YouTube video was also produced by Los Angeles advertising agency 72andSunny to summarise the key findings. According to 72andSunny, the short film is a "moving piece of work that's intended to reveal our struggle for identity". Matt Murphy, partner and group creative director at 72andSunny added, "questions reveal not only individual curiosity but much larger statements about who we are as a collective whole".

For more information about the 2015 Year in Search, please visit google.com/2015.

From the team at Hyperbrand, we hope you have a very happy Christmas and all the best for 2016!