The top Google searches in 2017 were quite expected topics. The top three included Hurricane Irma, iPhone 8, and iPhone X. But this year’s results were also dominated by a number of “How to” queries. The top three were: how to make slime, how to make solar eclipse glasses, and how to buy Bitcoin.
Apart from those, Google notes that the world also asked more consequential questions including: how much will the wall cost, how many refugees are there in the world, how do hurricanes form, how to freeze credit, and how to help Puerto Rico. As more people turn to Google to ask “How…?”, the accuracy of search results and Google’s algorithmic rankings have reached a pivotal point.
Our trust survey published in October found respondents trusted Google more than most other tech companies, at a time when the internet is rife with misleading information. But Google has promoted wildly inaccurate and offensive content this year, and displayed news results from malicious sources on numerous occasions, implicitly giving them authority. As we’ve previously pointed out, Google essentially holds a monopoly on truth because it’s by far the dominant search engine on the web. With the world coming to Google more often to learn how, it’s more important than ever for Google to manage the integrity of its search result rankings.
Google’s Year in Search 2017 also reveals other top searches in categories including actors (Meghan Markle, Kevin Spacey, Gal Gadot), Global news (Hurricane Irma, Bitcoin, Las Vegas shooting), and movies (IT, Wonder Woman, Beauty and the Beast). The lists were compiled based on search terms that Google said “had a high spike in traffic in 2017 as compared to 2016.”
