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 December 2021.
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+. 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.
2021 Comes To a Merciful End
Another year comes to a close and so does our reporting of Google Trends analysis for 2021. It is sometimes fun to compare our takes with what Google's marketing presents from its own data. Their campaign showcased an increase in the search volume for the phrase “how to heal“.
Yes, we do see that uptick in Google Trends for that search term in this all time view. Looking at this chart, we can see that there are peaks in the month of July over the last few years, which lines up with a related phrase “how to heal tattoo”.
Are we, as a people, trying to heal holistically from the pressures of the modern world or just from body art that we get in the summer? We can only guess.
Last month, we saw top searched keywords in the typical categories: Sports, Entertainment, and Holidays. There were a few phrases attached to current events that are worth noting and a few keywords related to tech companies. With that, here's our take on December 2021 Google Trends.
The Top Queried Phrases In December 2021
There were two Google Doodles that drove people to query a phrase in the search engine just by clicking on the modified logo:
- Winter Season – 12/20/2021 – 10,000,000+ queries
- New Year’s Eve – 12/30/2021 – 10,000,000+ queries
Appropriate for this month, the start of winter and NYE doodles got people to interact with Google results
The third phrase, also queried ten million plus times, was less celebratory in nature with the passing of American actress Betty White on the 31st.
- Betty White birthday – 12/31/2021 – 10,000,000+ queries
It's curious that the phrase reported by Google Trends was related to her birthday in January as she was about to turn 100 on January 17th. Typically when a famous person dies, their name is what is reported by Google Trends. We feel that this keyword shows that people were wondering how soon she was going to reach the century mark.
‘Tis The Holiday Season
When we think of December, we think of holidays. Here are the holiday-related queries from last month:
- Pearl Harbor Day – 12/6/2021 – 500,000+ queries
- NORAD Santa tracker – 12/23/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Merry Christmas – 12/24/2021 – 1,000,000+ queries
- New Year’s Day – 12/31/2021 – 5,000,000+ queries
We can attribute some of the query volume of the New Year's Day term to a Doodle that was published on Jan.1. Knowing that Google is on Pacific Standard Time, some of that New Year query volume was captured on the 31st.
What Do You Want To Watch?
We love our TV shows. Here are the most popular ones that aired or premiered in December 2021:
- Facts of Life Live – 12/7/2021 – 200,000+ queries
- And Just Like That – 12/8/2021 – 500,000+ queries
- Miss Universe – 12/11/2021 – 500,000+ queries
- Who won The Voice 2021 – 12/13/2021 – 500,000+ queries
- The Witcher – 12/17/2021 – 500,000+ queries
The AMP SEO team thinks that if a movie title appears in the top 3 phrases in Google Trends daily searches, people will go see it in droves. If it appears across multiple days, then it really has high interest.
- Spider-Man: No Way Home – 12/14/2021 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Spider-Man: No Way Home – 12/16/2021 – 500,000+ queries
- Matrix – 12/22/2021 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Sing 2 – 12/22/2021 – 200,000+ queries
- Don’t Look Up – 12/24/2021 – 1,000,000+ queries
Now The Matrix Resurrections, Sing 2, and Don't Look Up are probably going to be viewed by many people, but Spider-Man: No Way Home is on its own level. As of this writing, the film has earned $668.8 million to date and is the sixth-highest-grossing U.S. distributed theater movie of all time. Over the course of 2021, the film appeared in Google Trends Top 3 queries on seven separate dates. From Google Trends, we could see that the buzz/hype for this movie was enormous.
Weather Event and Other Natural Occurrences
There were a few weather events that drove people to search. Some, unfortunately, were deadly:
- Hawaii blizzard – 12/3/2021 – 200,000+ queries
- Mayfield, Ky – 12/10/2021 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Meteor shower tonight – 12/13/2021 – 200,000+ queries
- Colorado – 12/30/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
The devastating tornado that affected Mayfield, KY among other towns and cities was the event that drove the most volume.
Yep, More COVID-19 Queries
Just when we thought we were out of the woods, the Omicron variant brought COVID cases back up. Right after Christmas, people were searching about COVID:
- CDC COVID guidelines – 12/27/2021 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Walgreens COVID testing – 12/27/2021 – 500,000+ queries
We really hope we don't have to report any COVID keywords in 2022.
What's Going On In Tech?
We categorized these phrases as tech-related but their intent varies.
- Spotify Wrapped 2021 – 12/1/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Bitcoin – 12/3/2021 – 200,000+ queries
- AWS outage – 12/7/2021 – 500,000+ queries
Let's get the phrases with negative intent out of the way first. On the 3rd, Bitcoin lost value and Amazon Web Services had an outage on the 7th. On the positive side, we love the Spotify Wrapped feature and look forward to it each December. From its inclusion in the daily Top 3, it appears that many people enjoy it too.
Looking at search volume over the last 5 years, it looks like 2020 was the bigger year for Wrapped. We'll see what 2022 will bring for the music streaming company.
The Wide World of Sports
Over the last three years of recording this data, we know that sports-related keywords get the most volume. We decided to break down the most popular phrases into their own sub-categories:
The 5 million plus club had a couple of notable deaths and a college football team:
- Demaryius Thomas – 12/9/2021 – 5,000,000+ queries
- John Madden – 12/28/2021 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Alabama football – 12/31/2021 – 5,000,000+ queries
Jake Paul boxes and people are interested in his bouts:
- Jake Paul – 12/17/2021 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Jake Paul vs Tyron Woodley – 12/17/2021 – 500,000+ queries
- Jake Paul – 12/18/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
European Football has fans in the USA:
- Manchester United – 12/2/2021 – 200,000+ queries
The most popular NFL teams are the ones that are searched the most:
- Cowboys – 12/2/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Patriots – 12/6/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Steelers – 12/9/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Packers – 12/12/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Dallas Cowboys – 12/12/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Rams – 12/13/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Patriots – 12/18/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 12/19/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Packers – 12/25/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Dallas Cowboys – 12/26/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Miami Dolphins – 12/27/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
We can say the same thing about college football teams too:
- Oregon football – 12/3/2021 – 500,000+ queries
- Alabama vs Georgia – 12/4/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Michigan football – 12/4/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Georgia Football – 12/4/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Michigan football – 12/5/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Army Navy game – 12/10/2021 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Oklahoma football – 12/29/2021 – 500,000+ queries
Over the last three years of recording this data, we know that sports-related keywords get the most volume. We decided to break down the most popular phrases into their own sub-categories:
The 5 million plus club had a couple of notable deaths and a college football team:
- Demaryius Thomas – 12/9/2021 – 5,000,000+ queries
- John Madden – 12/28/2021 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Alabama football – 12/31/2021 – 5,000,000+ queries
Jake Paul boxes and people are interested in his bouts:
- Jake Paul – 12/17/2021 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Jake Paul vs Tyron Woodley – 12/17/2021 – 500,000+ queries
- Jake Paul – 12/18/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
European Football has fans in the USA:
- Manchester United – 12/2/2021 – 200,000+ queries
The most popular NFL teams are the ones that are searched the most:
- Cowboys – 12/2/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Patriots – 12/6/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Steelers – 12/9/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Packers – 12/12/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Dallas Cowboys – 12/12/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Rams – 12/13/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Patriots – 12/18/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 12/19/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Packers – 12/25/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Dallas Cowboys – 12/26/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Miami Dolphins – 12/27/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
We can say the same thing about college football teams too:
- Oregon football – 12/3/2021 – 500,000+ queries
- Alabama vs Georgia – 12/4/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Michigan football – 12/4/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Georgia Football – 12/4/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Michigan football – 12/5/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Army Navy game – 12/10/2021 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Oklahoma football – 12/29/2021 – 500,000+ queries
An NBA player broke the three-pointer record:
- Steph Curry – 12/14/2021 – 500,000+ queries
Lastly, UFC has a large following too:
- UFC – 12/11/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
There were more sports related phrases, 46 in all. When you collect 93 phrases and their estimated search volume on a daily basis, you get a good understanding of how popular sports are in the USA.
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.
Until next month.
