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Back in May of 2022, AMP Agency put out a report that predicted what the top trends of Summer 2022 were going to be based on historical search query data. Now that summer is over, we are looking back at a few of those predictions and seeing what we got right.  

If you missed it, the Summer Trends report explored 8 relevant categories to the summer season. 

  • Food & Drink
  • Beauty
  • Fashion
  • Entertainment
  • Activities
  • Purchases
  • Weddings
  • Travel

In each category, we gathered data on 5 topics.  With 40 topics total, we must have predicted a few correctly, right?

In this post, we are recapping the search query volume associated with some of the topics to see how we fared. For each topic, we are posting the search volume charts that we used to fuel our predictions. The original charts presented data from May 2018 through April 2022. We have updated those charts to show the search volume for the last 4 months (May - September 2022). Each chart is marked with an orange vertical line to delineate what data we used for our prediction and the actual data from the Summer of 2022.  

Read on to see if our guesses for this summer panned out the way we thought they would.

 

Food & Beverage

Canned Cocktails

Pre-mixed cocktails including spirit-based Ready To Drink (RTDs) beverages is the fastest growing format in the category according to this report.  Querying Google Trends on the phrase, “canned cocktails” in both the summer of 2020 and 2021, we found growth in search queries too. We felt we could boldly predict that the summer of 2022 would show higher demand for this beverage type. Pulling the search volume data from Google’s Keyword Planner, we don’t necessarily see a higher spike in queries but more of a prolonged interest.

For the months of May-August 2022, the search volume on the phrase “canned cocktails” matched the peak in the summer of 2021 (8,800 a month) based on Keyword Planner data.  This four-month period shows that search interest for this type of drink extended longer than in other summers.  We’ll see if the sales data matches the search data but it certainly seems that popularity for canned cocktails was high this past summer.

Burrata

If you thought a soft cheese of Italian origin with a rich flavor would become a popular post-pandemic food, well, you would be right. The interest in burrata has really multiplied over the past two years. Seeing the spike in query volume in July 2021 made us think we would see a bigger jump this year. This cheese was a hot trend in the summer of 2022.

Comparing the query volume reported by Keyword Planner for the months of July 2021 vs. July 2022, the interest for “burrata” increased by 26%. The AMP team hopes you enjoy it on salads, combined with some fresh tomatoes and olive oil, or mixed in with some pasta.

 

Beauty

Color Wow Dream Coat

With the endorsement of Kim Kardashian and her hair stylist, Chris Appleton, search volume skyrocketed for the Color Wow Dream Coat hair product. Seeing this spike in volume we thought this would only continue to increase due to the summer heat that brings a desire for a product that helps combat frizz due to summer humidity and saves your hairstyle.

 

In April, when we made our predictions, the search volume was 22,200. The search volume increased by 49% in comparison to May, however, it did not keep this upward trend throughout the summer, and search volume ended up decreasing by 45% instead after May. Perhaps everyone already stocked up on their Color Wow Dream Coat product before the summer began!

 

Elta MD Tinted Sunscreen

Considering the “clean girl” makeup look and skincare makeup products are currently trendy, search volume skyrocketed for the Elta MD Tinted Sunscreen, especially after Hailey Bieber revealed this was her favorite face product. With summer bringing higher UV rays, we figured this product would hit a new all-time high in search volume, especially with the need for products with sun-protecting qualities during the summer.

Unfortunately, we saw the opposite happen as search volume decreased by 45% in May compared to our predictions in April where the search volume was at its highest at 90,500. The Elta MD Tinted Sunscreen had its’ moment pre-summer 2022 but maybe next summer we will see it reach a new all-time high.

 

Fashion

Lululemon Crossbody

Everyone loves a way to keep their hands free but a convenient place to store their belongings, so in comes the crossbody. The Lululemon crossbody offers a sleek and stylish look with a variety of colors available. Lugging a purse around in the summer heat can be annoying, so we figured the Lululemon crossbody search interest would only increase as the summer went on.

And we were right! After our predictions were made in April, we saw a 123% increase in search volume, resulting in a new all-time high in search volume for the Lululemon crossbody. Did you snag one for yourself this summer?

 

Nike Air Monarch Men’s Shoes

The resurgence of 90s fashion has brought along the ultimate “dad shoe”, aka the Nike Air Monarch. With the summer bringing lots of outdoor activities, we figured this keyword would only increase in search volume as the need for a stylish but comfy shoe for the summer increased.

And we were semi-correct! Even though we did not end up seeing a decrease in search volume, we didn’t see an increase either. The search volume for Nike Air Monarchs flat-lined at 33,100 in search volume from April until August, it did not increase nor decrease once during this time period.

 

Entertainment

Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder released in May 2022 with high expectations to carry forward the future of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). We compared increases in search volume for each movie scheduled to be released in the summer and found that Thor had the highest percentage increase in searches in the month that the trailer was released, while also having the highest amount of views in the first 24 hours on YouTube. Based on this, we predicted that Thor: Love and Thunder would be the biggest box office hit of Summer 2022, beating Top Gun: Maverick for the top spot.

At its peak, searches for Thor: Love and Thunder had over 2 times the amount of searches that Top Gun: Maverick had. This led to Thor Love and Thunder having a bigger opening weekend domestically than Top Gun Maverick. However, the continued success of Top Gun: Maverick was likely due to word of mouth. Thor came out to mixed reviews, while Top Gun: Maverick surprised critics and led to universally positive reviews. This goes to show that word of mouth doesn’t necessarily translate to Google search volume. If nothing else, Top Gun: Maverick set the bar pretty high for the next classic film from the 80s that inevitably gets a sequel.

 

Justin Bieber Concert

Justin Bieber announced in early 2022 that he would be back to touring after his tour was originally canceled due to the pandemic. Fans were naturally excited as it had been over 2 years since Justin had performed live. The query “justin bieber concert” saw search volume increase 6x from January 2022 to March 2022.

Unfortunately in June 2022, Justin Bieber announced he had been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, which left him temporarily unable to perform. Search volume for “justin bieber concert” instantly decreased, as fans were more concerned for Justin’s health and well-being.  The query “ramsay hunt syndrome” saw an increase in searches from 22,000 in May 2022 to over 5,000,000 in June 2022.

 

Activities

Pickleball

We originally predicted that pickleball would be one of the top backyard games that would remain popular in the post-covid world. This turned out to be correct, as search interest for pickleball skyrocketed in the summer of 2021. According to a report, pickleball was the fastest growing sport in the US in 2020 and 2021. Because of this and the growing search volume, we predicted this trend would continue in the summer of 2022.

Once again we predicted the trend, as searches for “pickleball” more than doubled from February 2022 to July 2022, and hit the 1,000,000 searches per month mark in May 2022. Pickleball is easy to learn and fun for all ages, so it’s no wonder why the sport is becoming so popular.  The next step in pickleball’s evolution would be to gain popularity internationally. If that happens, maybe we’ll see pickleball in the 2032 Olympics.

 

Glamping

Glamping was another outdoor activity that saw an increase in search interest during the Pandemic, and kept that level of interest into 2021 and beyond. Glamping, or glamorous camping, is a way to enjoy the outdoors without roughing it in the wilderness. We predicted that this trend would continue into 2022, as more music festivals and general interest in outdoor activities continued to rise.

We correctly predicted the trend as search volume for the query “glamping” saw an all time high in June 2022 at over 200,000 searches. There is even a website called glamping.com that you can search for any glamping destination around the world based on glamping type. Will you be glamping next summer?

 

Travel

Family Travel

As a lingering effect of all the travel restrictions slowly being lifted after the pandemic, we expected that people all over the US would be traveling a lot more this summer and with more people. People began searching for terms related to family travel early in the year, indicating a popular summer to travel with company.

This summer, as predicted, was extremely popular for family travel. There was a significant increase in search queries for phrases related to family vacations, which lasted until August. This summer, there were more than 100% more searches for this term than in June and July of last year.

Pet Friendly

We predicted an increase in dog-friendly hotels this summer, more than ever before, as people sought alternatives to leaving their furry friends at home. With an increase in overall travel predicted this summer, it only indicated an increase in traveling with pets and finding the best dog-friendly hotel to stay in.

As the summer came to an end, our predictions proved to be accurate. From May to August, search queries for pet-friendly boarding, how to travel with a pet, and which airlines are easiest to fly with your dog or cat were nearly 70% higher than during the same period last year. This summer saw the highest number of searches in history!

 

Weddings

Reception Dress

As expected, Summer 2022 was undoubtedly the Summer of the Wedding. We predicted a high volume of wedding-related searches as a result of the backlog of couples who wanted to be wed during the pandemic. Early in the summer, we could already see a dramatic spike in searches for reception dresses as people began getting ready for their weddings, leading us to predict a peak this summer. As the season came to an end, the search for reception dresses only kept rising.

During the summer months, our predictions were proved to be correct. Search queries reached almost 30,000 towards the end of the summer, over 3,000 queries more than this time last summer, confirming our expected results!

Green Wedding Dress

This summer wedding season, we expected a lot of color to fill venues. This includes the bride herself as search queries for non-traditional wedding dresses increased steadily. In particular, green dress-related searches saw an uprise in popularity in the previous months, leading us to expect a summer filled with colorful wedding dresses.

And we were right! Green Wedding Dresses were confirmed to be the craze this past summer wedding season. There was a rise in search for a variation of different tonalities of green wedding dresses. As predicted, Dresses that are not white did in fact see a peak and reached the same search volume as last year as they are rapidly becoming more accepted and encouraged than ever before.

 

Purchases

Shibumi Shade

This beach season, we predicted a rise in popularity of one outdoor product in particular: the Shibumi Shade. This “wind-powered” beach canopy was gaining interest in 2020 and 2021 and went viral on TikTok last summer as videos of North Carolina beaches showed dozens of the canopies dotting (or crowding!) the beach. With the ease of pandemic restrictions, we predicted Americans would be more interested than ever in hitting the beach - locally or on vacation.

As predicted the Shibumi Shade took off in popularity in 2022, hitting a peak in June with 165,000 searches - a whopping 811% increase over June 2021. Comparing the peak month of each summer (July 2021 vs June 2022), Shibumi Shade still had a 172% increase in searches. If you didn’t get yours don’t worry, we won’t be surprised to see them again next year!

In conclusion, we feel like our batting average is pretty high on our predictions. Of course, we’re still using search volume as a proxy to interest and/or sales, but the connection of what people search and what they buy is strong.  We look forward to checking on our predictions for the Fall.

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This post is part of our ongoing blog series highlighting our CMS practice at AMPXD; learn more about how we select CMS solutions through our other stories. As a large worldwide enterprise software organization with multiple product teams, marketing teams, customer communities, and outreach programs; VMware knows the daily challenges of managing a robust blog ecosystem and its content.. With over 40 different corporate blogs, VMware tasked our CMS experts at AMPXD with creating and managing a centralized authoring environment. Before our engagement the VMware teams had disparate blog instances in multiple platforms which made both content and user administration difficult to coordinate and manage. The organic growth of the various blog platforms also created the situation where they lacked brand consistency with various blogs’ look-and-feel resembling different brands. This lack of cohesion resulted in end users browsing between properties having jarring experiences as brand assets and user interface elements were unique to each blog. The AMPXD team in coordination with VMware stakeholders audited their internal workflows and business needs and identified WordPress Multisite as the ideal platform to enable blog authoring for the entire organization. The extensibility and control features of creating a WordPress Multisite network allowed for consistent user interfaces via brand controlled themes, a centralized user repository integrated with SSO, and one true dashboard to manage content and sites across the organization. AMPXD completed the migration of the existing VMware corporate blogs to the WordPress platform and, as part of the work, unified all of the disparate user interface elements of the blogs into one true corporate blog theme. The VMware blog network now has consistent styling elements whether you are browsing content from VMware Latin America or reading about the latest tips for utilizing vSphere The flexibility of the WordPress platform and the ability to create multisite blog networks has enabled VMware to create a robust blog ecosystem with over 40 blogs specialized to VMware products and disciplines. Utilizing content syndication mechanisms, VMware now has one blog space that is an aggregate of all corporate content across the blog network, giving customers one portal to discover and consume corporate content from across the whole ecosystem. By centering on the authoring workflow and optimizing the WordPress platform, the VMware team’s ability to easily manage authors, themes, system integrations and plugins has allowed the enterprise to focus on creating rich content and communities. Over the course of our ongoing series of posts around technology, we will share stories of uniquely different CMS solutions in practical implementations. If you have an upcoming CMS project or need to discuss content management strategies, the team at AMPXD would love to assist you with your needs. Reach out to us via our Contact Us form. You can also read about our entire suite of Experience Design and Website Development capabilities on our Services Page.

  • 3 min read
  • September 14, 2023

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 2023. 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. Search Is Sizzling In July Actually, the total search volumes for the phrases we collected in July 2023 were lower compared to June so sizzling may be an exaggeration. We can’t say for certain why the reported search volumes were lower. There could have been a change in the way Google Trends was reporting query volume. The team likes to think that the people are out and about and not looking at their phones as much. Oh sure. Looking across the keywords, we had several celebrity deaths that made up the most searched topics of the month. The 4th of July holiday and the guy who seems undeniably connected to it made our report. We have an understanding at what movies, TV, and music were popular last month along with how much big jackpots of money captivated the search audience. Carlee Russell was someone people wanted to know more about and there was a lot of interest in the sport of soccer. Lastly, changes at Twitter and the launch of Threads had us excited to share more from the category of social media. Here’s what we have for you in this report! We Say Goodbye Sadly, the queries with the most volume from the past month were driven by celebrity deaths: Tony Bennett - 7/21/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries Sinead O'Connor - 7/26/2023 - 5,000,000+ queries On the last day of the month, two other entertainers passed away. Angus Cloud - 7/31/2023 - 5,000,000+ queries Paul Reubens - 7/31/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries We tend not to report on the query related to celebrity deaths but last month, two of these phrases were the only ones to be reported as having over 5 million queries for the day. The Fourth Fireworks, parades, and Joey Chestnut. These are the things that come to mind when we think about the Fourth of July holiday. You may not agree with the last item in the series, but the competitive eater has made our report over the past 3 years! Joey Chestnut - 7/2/2023 - 100,000+ queries Independence Day - 7/3/2023 - 200,000+ queries Fourth of July - 7/3/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries Joey Chestnut - 7/4/2023 - 500,000+ queries Take a look at the rising search popularity of his name in this Google Trends graph! Like it or not, Joey Chestnut is becoming a regular feature for the holiday. Summer Entertainment There were a few movie titles in our list from July 2023: Sound of Freedom - 7/3/2023 - 200,000+ queries Wonka - 7/11/2023 - 100,000+ queries Barbie movie - 7/20/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries The Sound of Freedom was released in theaters on July 4 and the Wonka film trailer dropped on the 11th. What seems to be the movie of the summer if not the year, Barbie hit the big screens on July 21st. Here are the queries that made our list that are related to TV shows. Emmy nominations 2023 - 7/12/2023 - 200,000+ queries The Summer I Turned Pretty - 7/13/2023 - 200,000+ queries Golden Bachelor - 7/17/2023 - 100,000+ queries Lastly, Travis Scott released an album on the 28th and people wanted to know more: Utopia Travis Scott - 7/27/2023 - 200,000+ queries Dreams of Free Money It seems like once or twice a year we get a large lottery jackpot that stirs up search interest. In July, we had two: Powerball - 7/8/2023 - 200,000+ queries Mega Millions - 7/8/2023 - 200,000+ queries Powerball - 7/11/2023 - 500,000+ queries Powerball - 7/15/2023 - 500,000+ queries Powerball numbers - 7/18/2023 - 500,000+ queries Powerball - 7/18/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Powerball - 7/18/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries As you can see, the Powerball lottery game was very popular in July. Even though Mega Millions saw one entry in July when no one won the $427 million prize, The Powerball jackpot hit 1 billion dollars on the 18th and there was one winner for the drawing on the 20th. The Curious Case of Carlee Russell Carlee Russell’s name was reported on news outlets as someone who was kidnapped. Carlee Russell - 7/14/2023 - 500,000+ queries Carlee Russell found - 7/15/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Carlee Russell - 7/19/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries The Alabama woman admitted later that she staged her own kidnapping and turned herself in and was charged with making false reports. Some Keywords Related To Politics Here are the phrases that made Google’s Daily Trends top 3 last month. Cocaine found in White House - 7/4/2023 - 100,000+ queries Student loan forgiveness - 7/14/2023 - 200,000+ queries Mitch McConnell - 7/26/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Besides all the holiday festivities, people wanted to know about the cocaine found at the White House. We guess we’ll never know. On the 14th, the Biden Administration announced it would forgive the loans for 804,000 borrowers and on the 26th, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell had an episode where he stopped talking while being interviewed by reporters and was escorted from the podium where he was speaking. Soccer Keywords We are going to call it soccer in this report, but the sport better known as football around the world drove many people to search last month. The USMNT was involved in the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament. Here are some queries that were related to it that made our collection. USA vs Trinidad and Tobago - 7/2/2023 - 100,000+ queries Mexico vs Costa Rica - 7/6/2023 - 200,000+ queries USA vs Panama - 7/12/2023 - 200,000+ queries The USWNT played in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup and search interest in that team and their matches was strong and they also made the list. Women's World Cup - 7/19/2023 - 500,000+ queries USWNT - 7/20/2023 - 100,000+ queries U.S. Women's Soccer - 7/21/2023 - 200,000+ queries USA vs Netherlands - 7/26/2023 - 200,000+ queries Women's World Cup - 7/27/2023 - 200,000+ queries It figures that after a world famous player joins your club that suddenly the team name is getting queried every time you play. Inter Miami - 7/21/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Inter Miami - 7/25/2023 - 500,000+ queries We’ll keep an eye on how many times this team makes our list for the rest of the year. Major League Baseball There is another major league playing games in the summer. MLB had their All-Star game in July but searchers mostly cared about the Home Run Derby. Home Run Derby 2023 - 7/9/2023 - 200,000+ queries Home Run Derby - 7/10/2023 - 500,000+ queries The trade deadline for the league actually occurred on the first of August but people still wanted to see the flurry of trades. MLB Trade Deadline - 7/31/2023 - 200,000+ queries Sorry Mets fans. Interest In Other Sports Too Queries related to big events in Tennis and Boxing made our list. Carlos Alcaraz - 7/14/2023 - 200,000+ queries Wimbledon - 7/16/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries The Wimbledon tournament was played in July 2023 and Carlos Alcaraz was the Men’s Singles winner. Spence vs Crawford - 7/28/2023 - 200,000+ queries Crawford vs Spence - 7/28/2023 - 200,000+ queries Errol Spence Jr vs Terence Crawford - 7/29/2023 - 200,000+ queries The boxing match between Errol Spence Jr. and Terrence Crawford was fought on the 29th. As you can see, there were many ways to search for this bout. On the 29th, Crawford defeated Spence via TKO. Prime Day Amazon had their big deal day for Prime members as they typically do in July. Amazon Prime Day - 7/10/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries The search volume is almost back to pre-pandemic levels but not quite where it was in July 2019: ‘ Twitter, Threads, and X We finish up this edition of our search trends report with all the big happenings with social media platforms. Here’s a timeline of all the things searchers wanted to know more about with the changes at Twitter (X) and Meta: Rate limit exceeded Twitter - 7/1/2023 - 200,000+ queries Threads - 7/5/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Twitter rebrand - 7/23/2023 - 200,000+ queries For some reason, there were limits put in place for the number of tweets users could view in a day, with different limits for verified and unverified accounts. Meta launched Threads on the 5th, much to the surprise of social media managers everywhere. We shall see how this new platform evolves as we have been viewing Twitter’s many changes over the course of 2023, which includes its rebrand to X. Update all of your social icons! 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.

When you’re first starting out on social media, you may be heeding advice to “just show up” on each platform. Great advice, nonetheless, but there’s an opportunity to diversify your content and give it a more native fit for each social media platform. Establishing distinct channel strategies ensures that you’re engaging most effectively with that channel’s audience. Consumers use different apps for different reasons.Your audience on Instagram is completely different from your audience on Twitter or TikTok. More importantly, media dimensions, character limits, and the overall strategy and objective vary depending on what social media platform you’re using. Content can be repurposed to ensure it communicates the brands' message across different platforms,however, it should always be tweaked to fit the social channel’s needs and to increase engagement. Let’s take a look at a few popular platforms and how to optimize your content on each one. Instagram Instagram is a staple when a brand is trying to showcase their visual DNA. Most brands only have about 3 seconds to capture consumers’ attention, so they’ll want to get a good understanding of what you’re about from just a photo. No matter the industry, people will be coming to your brand’s Instagram profile to see what the products or services offered look like and take a peek at the aesthetics offered inside as well. Instagram is a visual storytelling app. Feed posts allow you to show the bigger picture, while story posts are where your consumers can see every step along the journey. Through story interactions, reels, and direct messages, there’s also a wide-open opportunity to develop a community surrounding your brand. X (previously Twitter) A community manager’s dream (or nightmare), X (previously Twitter) allows you to speak directly to your audience—and they’re likely to respond! X gives your brand an avenue to speak on what speaks to them, interact with consumers, and easily repost relevant content, all great ways to lean into your brand's personality. Most brands allow the witty, not-so-serious side of themselves to live on X, leaning into gifs, memes, and trends that float across the text-first platform. You could use this platform to engage jokingly with your competitors, start conversations about the products or services you offer and have a little fun. TikTok TikTok is a great platform to push your brand creativity and have your content reach new audiences using unique trends. For your brand, TikTok is a creative playground. With trending sounds, filters, and templates, there are so many ways to present your brand in a way you may never have before. The platform’s motto, "Make TikToks not Ads," is a great guardrail for developing content. Consumers on TikTok learn about hidden gem products, new recipes, or product hacks. Optimal content on this app is very immersive, so you have an opportunity to find more information and insights about your consumers. LinkedIn LinkedIn is a great place to show off some thought leadership and anything interesting you’re doing in your industry. Think of LinkedIn as your brand’s professional landing, a place to network and mingle in a more formal setting. Brands could use this to showcase their values, employee spotlights, and business achievements. This could spark an interest in future customers, employees, or investors. So, before jumping into a new social media platform, (like Threads), develop a channel strategy. If the app is primarily visual, take some time to solidify pictures and videos that will add value to your page and engage your audience, like relevant infographics or shots of real people enjoying your brand. For more text-first apps, take advantage of the opportunity to let your words do the work by starting engaging conversations with your consumers or answering FAQ. Most importantly, get to know your consumers! Understand how your audience behaves and engages on each specific channel so you can tailor your content to fit right in.