It’s been a wild year. We’ve experienced extreme weather events, blockbuster movie showdowns, devastating wars and sporting triumphs. We’ve lost beloved entertainment figures who inspired us, made us smile, or made us want to try new things.
There have been elections, outrage, and electrical outages.
All of these things and plenty more have been recognised in Google’s annual “Year in Search,” a roundup of 2023’s top queries we asked of the search engine during the year. The list is released by the tech giant each December.
The review is divided into categories that show even though we use the search function to better understand the breaking news of the world around us, we use it just as much to solve our problems and improve our appearance.
It’s why ‘Why is Israel and Gaza fighting’, as well as ‘Lash extensions’ and ‘Why is there an egg shortage?’ were all key searches.
The differences between New Zealand and Australia are revealed in a number of categories, but in recipes searches we all looked to be marking King Charles’ Coronation with an egg-based meal as ‘Coronation Quiche’ appeared in both countries’ lists. Aussies were curiously interested in McDonald’s purple ‘Grimace Shake’, too.
Grief played a role as we sought out not only news but more details on the lives of those that made their mark. The loss of ‘Friends’ actor Matthew Perry touched many lives, as his name tops a list of those we mourned, that also includes singer Sinead O’Connor, Jock Zonfrillo, Tina Turner and Cal Wilson.
Google’s Year in Search lists shared from each country are slightly different, with New Zealand’s offering more detail, for example the list breaks out ‘sports teams’ and ‘sports events’ searched for, while Australia simply lists ‘sports’. You can also understand how the rest of the world used the site, learning, for example that Canada was particularly keen on the results of the Women’s World Cup, while in the UK ‘When does Love Island start’ was high in the list of ‘When…’ questions.
Top Searches Trending in New Zealand in 2023
News
1. Cyclone Gabrielle
2. Matthew Perry
3. Election Results
4. Census 2023
5. Auckland Airport
6. Auckland Flooding
7. Jacinda Ardern
8. War in Israel and Gaza
9. Auckland Shooting
10. Submarine Missing
Global Figures
1. Posie Parker
2.Andrew Tate
3. Taylor Swift
4. David Beckham
5. Harry Styles
Sporting Events
1. Rugby World Cup
2. Fifa World Cup
3. NRL Ladder
4. Cricket World Cup
5. Warriors vs Broncos
Why
1. Why is Israel and Gaza fighting
2. Why is Book Depository closing
3. Why were chainsaws invented
4. Why is there an egg shortage
5. Why did Hamas invade Israel
DIY
1. Headboard
2. Chicken Coop
3. Lash Extensions
4. Easy Halloween Costumes
5. Mother’s Day Gifts
Movies
1. Oppenheimer
2. Barbie
3. Avatar
4. Everything Everywhere All At Once
5. Guardians of the Galaxy
Notable New Zealanders
1. Ryan Fox
2. Israel Adesanya
3. Liam Lawson
4. Lydia Ko
5. Dai Henwood
Top Searches Trending in Australia in 2023
News
1. Optus outage
2. War in Israel and Gaza
3. Referendum results
4. Andrew Tate
5. Earthquake Melbourne
6. Submarine
7. Turkey earthquake
8. Chandrayaan-3
9. Russell Brand
10. NSW election results
Aussies
1. Sam Kerr
2. Mary Fowler
3. Michael Clarke
4. Reece Walsh
5. Dan Andrews
Sport
1. Cricket World Cup
2. The Ashes
3. Women’s World Cup
4. Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury
5. BBL
Loss
1. Matthew Perry
2. Jock Zonfrillo
3. Sinéad O’Connor
4. Tina Turner
5. Cal Wilson
Recipes
1. Coronation quiche recipe
2.Grimace shake recipe
3.Coronation chicken recipe
4.CWA Anzac biscuit recipe
5. Chicken Honolulu recipe
Movies
1. Oppenheimer
2. Barbie
3. Everything Everywhere All at Once
4. John Wick 4
5. Avatar: The Way of Water
For the full lists, check out New Zealand trending searches and Australia trending searches.
