In our continuing series of examining Google Search Trends to gain insights into the top keywords queried in the USA, we present our findings for July 2022.
Every day, we capture the top three keyword phrases in terms of search volume as reported by Google Trends (US Only). Each term has an estimated query volume attached to it, which we also record. The number scale tops out at 10,000,000+ with a lower limit of 200,000+ (sometimes 100,000+). After the conclusion of the month, we look at the phrases we collected along with their volumes to get an understanding of what drove queries for the month.
July 2022 – Hawt Weather & Hawt Queries
Not sure that’s how you spell the word hot, but last month was full of query curiosities. There were three keywords related to food in our recorded list. Dreams of large jackpots drove people to search about the Mega Millions drawings and other lottery games. Our pick for the biggest movie of the summer made the daily top 3 not just once but twice along with other shows and films. Other topics people queried were Amazon Prime Day and keywords related to the economy. In Sports, the MLB All Star game was a hot topic along with UFC events. Lastly, the name of a face recognition disorder made our list (Ramsay Hunt Syndrome is soooo June 2022), but let’s kick off with some deep looks into our universe.
Photos From Space
In July 2022, one of the top queries by volume as reported by Google’s Daily Search Trends was driven by the Doodle for the new James Webb telescope that went online during the month. Before that Google Doodle was posted, people were already very excited about the views from outer space we were about to see.
- James Webb telescope – 7/11/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
- James Webb Space Telescope – 7/12/2022 – 10,000,000+ queries
It’s good to see that a topic related to science made the daily top 3 for two days in a row, even if some of us were duped into thinking a slice of chorizo was a faraway star.
Next, it’s a topic of more Earthly pursuits.
Let’s Get Rich Quick
Every so often, the Mega Millions jackpot gets really big – over a billion dollars big. When it does, it captivates the Google search audience. Take a look at the progression through the month of July.
- Mega Millions – 7/19/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Mega Millions – 7/26/2022 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Mega Millions – 7/29/2022 – 10,000,000+ queries
On the 19th, the total prize was just over a half billion dollars. We believe that once the word ‚Äòbillion’ starts getting used when describing Mega Millions, then the search volume starts to spike.
After the announcement that there was a winner from the July 29th drawing, it appears there was a hangover effect and people wanted to learn more about the Powerball game.
- Powerball – 7/30/2022 – 500,000+ queries
It was “only” a $170 million jackpot, so it seems the amount wasn’t the driving force behind the query and just the habit of querying for quick riches.
Economic Factors
From these two queries, maybe the current trouble with the economy had people thinking about ways to supplement their income.
- Inflation – 7/13/2022 – 200,000+ queries
- Fed rate hike – 7/27/2022 – 200,000+ queries
Although lower in query volume than the lottery-related phrases in the last section, concerns over inflation and rising interest rates are clearly on people’s minds.
Amazon Prime Day
Hyped as the biggest shopping day of the year next to Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day returned to its typical July occurrence after the pandemic shifted it a bit for a couple of years. Here are the phrases we captured last month.
- Amazon Prime Day – 7/11/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Amazon Prime Day 2022 – 7/11/2022 – 500,000+ queries
- Amazon Prime Day – 7/12/2022 – 500,000+ queries
We grabbed a chart to see the deals day’s popularity over the past 5 years. You can see that the pandemic did have an effect on the search volume in 2022 and 2021, but the downtrend started in 2019.
It’s safe to state that even with less query volume on the actual phrase “amazon prime day” that the summer shopping event is still quite popular with Prime members.
Summer Eats
We’re so happy to see food-related queries in our data. Here are the three top keywords from July 2022.
- Nathan’s hotdogs Contest 2022 – 7/4/2022 – 200,000+ queries
- National Ice Cream Day – 7/17/2022 – 200,000+ queries
- Choco Taco – 7/25/2022 – 200,000+ queries
The hot dog eating contest always brings out the searches. In past years, Joey Chestnut has been top term related to the contest but he had a non-record breaking performance in 2022.
It’s nice to see National Ice Cream Day make the daily top 3. We wish that it had a bigger response last year when we predicted it was going to be huge and it wasn’t. We pulled the chart to see what’s up:
Based on this chart, you can see the search interest spiked in 2019 and then trailed off. It was more popular in 2022 vs. 2021 so that’s something. Looking back at those previous articles, it’s clear that the improvement applied to their data collection system on January 1, 2022 changed the data on this topic. No matter – ice cream should be celebrated even when novelties are being discontinued like the choco taco. Clearly, it will be missed.
Streaming, Taking In a Flick, and a New Album
The conclusion of Stranger Things Season Four had people querying in Google.
- Stranger Things – 7/1/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Noah Schnapp – 7/7/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
One of the actors from the show, Noah Schnapp, received some extra attention when he shared private messages from the pop star Doja Cat. Any publicity is good publicity?
Our pick for the biggest movie of the summer had a good showing in the daily trends report:
- Thor: Love and Thunder – 7/5/2022 – 500,000+ queries
- Thor: Love and Thunder – 7/7/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
Does high search volume equal box office success? We will examine that question in a follow up to our 2022 Summer Trends report.
Marvel continued to drive search interest with the release of the new Black Panther movie trailer and details of its Phase 5 film plans.
- Black Panther 2 – 7/23/2022 – 500,000+ queries
- Marvel Phase 5 – 7/23/2022 – 500,000+ queries
Again, the fan interest is strong for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Search query data is a great indication of the fan’s devotion.
We tend to see award shows drive search queries. Here’s the interest for the Emmys:
- Emmy nominations 2022 – 7/12/2022 – 500,000+ queries
We’ll report in September if people are interested in the show. Fans of Disney Channel movies were pleased to see that the latest installment of the Zombies film series was released on the 15th.
- Zombies 3 – 7/15/2022 – 200,000+ queries
This film can be streamed on Disney+ and a fourth film has not been confirmed or denied at the time of this writing. Lastly, Queen Bey released an album in July 2022.
- Beyonce – 7/28/2022 – 500,000+ queries
According to Variety.com, Renaissance is the second best album debut of the year behind Harry Styles’ Harry’s House
All Star Activities and Other Sports
Near the middle of the month, Major League’s Baseball’s All-Star Game. People seem to love the long ball.
- Home Run Derby 2022 – 7/17/2022 – 500,000+ queries
- Home Run Derby – 7/18/2022 – 500,000+ queries
- Albert Pujols – 7/18/2022 – 200,000+ queries
- All-Star game 2022 – 7/19/2022 – 500,000+ queries
Albert Pujols played in his final All-Star game as he is retiring at the end of this season. Since the other major sports leagues are not in season, we thought we’d look at other sports-related keywords that were queried last month. They include Formula One racing, Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Professional Wrestling:
- F1 – 7/3/2022 – 200,000+ queries
- UFC 272 – 7/2/2022 – 500,000+ queries
- UFC – 7/16/2022 – 200,000+ queries
- UFC – 7/31/2022 – 500,000+ queries
- Money in the Bank 2022 – 7/2/2022 – 100,000+ queries
- SummerSlam 2022 – 7/29/2022 – 200,000+ queries
UFC and Wrestling event keywords are mainstays in our data collection but Formula One racing is increasing in popularity.
We’ll keep an eye on this auto racing keyword as the months go on.
Cat Games, Face Blindness, and Concern With CERN
In our final section, here’s a collection of keyword phrases that fit uniquely into their own categories so we packed them all together here.
Did you know that cat video games were a thing?
- Stray – 7/18/2022 – 200,000+ queries
The long awaited game Stray (for those who wait for cat video games) was released on July 19th but people were searching for information the day before. Also, did you know that prosopagnosia is the medical term for face blindness?
- Prosopagnosia – 7/6/2022 – 100,000+ queries
It was reported that Brad Pitt suffers from prosopagnosia so people looked it up on the 6th. For what it’s worth, more people wanted to know what the affliction that affected Justin Bieber was last month.
Lastly, the organization that operates everybody’s favorite Large Hadron Collider made headlines last month.
- CERN – 7/5/2022 – 500,000+ queries
No, they didn’t create a black hole to swallow the planet but they are trying to collect data on dark matter. We really hope they don’t create a black hole, though.
Thanks for reading. If you liked this article, we utilize search trends data for all of our clients and we invite you to learn more about our SEO services.
