For most people, Google is the first place to turn to for an answer to their burning (and, at times, rather unexpected) questions, and South Africans are no different. Locals have googled all kinds of interesting questions this year, from ‘how to get pregnant’ to ‘what is listeriosis’, as shown in Google’s list of the most trending searches in South Africa this year, called Year in Search 2018.
Some of the most popular keywords in the country in 2018 included ‘Nando’s near me’, ‘Dischems near me’, ‘Black Panther’, and ‘Meghan Markle’.
Google’s Year in Search 2018 shows that locals were greatly interested in South African news, the British royal family and oxtail recipes this year. In fact, 2018 was the second year in a row that oxtail dishes topped the list of South Africa’s most searched-for recipes.
Locals, Google shows, also rely on the search engine to find businesses, restaurants, jobs, and stores near them, as well as to find out about local celebrities and politicians.
South Africa loves sport, and has the Google statistics to prove it: ‘World Cup fixtures’ was the number one most googled phrase in the country this year. Meanwhile, South Africans’ pet hate, load shedding, was the second most googled topic.
The search engine processes more than 40 000 queries every second, adding up to 1.2-trillion searches globally each year.
Here are the top Google searches for South Africa in 2018
Top trending searches
1. World Cup Fixtures
2. Load Shedding
3. Global Citizen
4. Zuma
5. Winnie Mandela
6. HHP
7. Listeriosis
8. Black Panther
9. Meghan Markle
10. Mac Miller
Top trending questions
1. How did Avicii die?
2. How old is Pharell Williams?
3. What is listeriosis?
4. What is black data?
5. How old is Prince Harry?
6. How much are Global Citizen tickets?
7. How to get pregnant?
8. What time is the royal wedding?
9. What happened to HHP?
10. How old is Meghan Markle?
Top ‘near me’ searches
1. Jobs near me
2. Nando’s near me
3. Dischem near me
4. McDonalds near me
5. Guest house near me
6. Postnet near me
7. Steers near me
8. Spar near me
9. Debonairs near me
10. Spur near me
Top recipes searched for
1. Oxtail recipes
2. Cake recipes
3. Cocktail recipes
4. Butternut recipes
5. Salad recipes
6. Stir fry recipes
7. Biscuit recipes
8. Easy dessert recipes
9. Sweet potato recipes
10. Chicken breast recipes
Top local personalities searched for
1. Zuma
2. Cyril Ramaphosa
3. Sbahle Mpisane
4. Kevin Anderson
5. Malusi Gigaba
6. Ashwin Willemse
7. Patrice Motsepe
8. Cheryl Zondi
9. Shamila Batohi
10. Mlindo the Vocalist
Top sports searches
1.World Cup fixtures
2. PSL Log
3. Kevin Anderson
4. Ashwin Willemse
5. SA vs Australia
6. Sundowns vs Barcelona
7. SA vs India
8. Alexis Sanchez
9. Commonwealth Games
10. Winter Olympics
Picture: Pixabay
