The end of the year calls for a look back on everything we did, and that means its time to see our top searches. What did Australia search for most in 2018?
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are just under 25 million people living in Australia. That may not be as large as America’s 325 million, but it’s still a lot of people, and we’re an online bunch.
We’re savvy, connected, and generally use phones and computers in a big way. Like most of the world, we’re Googling like the rest and best of them.
Every year, Google comes out and tells us what we’ve Googled most, and because we’re practically at the end of 2018 — it’ll be a new month in less than one, people — it’s time to do that.
What have Australians been searching?
It mostly boils down to politics, sports, and food, with the occasional question or two or three.
Rather unsurprisingly, the perpetual tire fire that is Australian politics had a pretty serious dent on what we searched, as a government that grew tiring from its level of debacles sent us to our favourite search engine.
Our top ranking Australian people searched included those involved in scandalous affairs and a new prime minister, as Barnaby Joyce, Peter Dutton, and Scott Morrison nailed the top three spots, while the pretty serious issue of Australia’s My Health Record achieved the top question asked, as Australians turned to Google to ask how to opt out of My Health Record.
We also spent time asking how we delete Facebook and Instagram, and how to lose weight fast, as well as some rather personal questions, such as what is listeria, what is hazing, ans why is my poop green.
Australians also asked “why is my internet so slow”, but bizarrely “NBN” didn’t get a mention on the top ten searches.
Australia’s obsession with sports also kicked in, but it was our love of questions about food that received a lot of attention, something that has likely been pushed on by Google’s ability to answer them, but also possibly by the smart speakers released by Google in the Home Hub and Home Max, which take questions directly and then read out the answers to you.
It makes a lot of sense, especially if you factor in the likelihood that people were asking speakers how to cook things, only to have them read out as they tried to, with corned beef, egg plant, and tofu ranking highly, as well as recipes for beef stroganoff, chicken curry, and recipes on the Ketogenic diet.
Essentially, Australia seems to be a nation of questions and cooking, and a little bit more, and if you’re keen to see how much more, Google has the rest of those searches at its site.
Otherwise you can just keep searching, adding to what will likely be an even more Google-packed new year.
