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 January 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+. 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.
Welcome to 2022
We flipped another page on the calendar and here we are. Although the number has changed, we still hear from people who say 2020 has been the longest year ever. Writing these posts gives us a different perspective. The whims of the audience using Google Search are ever-changing and to document it monthly helps to put the passage of time into clearer focus. As we look back at January 2022, it appears no one is searching for “Who won The Voice 2021?” That phrase is sooooo December 2021.
From our collected data, we saw a large number of keywords that were queried over 10 million times as reported by Google Trends. We also saw the concern regarding Russia’s amassing forces at the border of Ukraine drive searches in Google. Interest in the NFL, which is definitely the most searched American sports league, came to life across 24 phrases we collected (out of 93). Lastly, with winter in full effect, we saw a big increase in a certain weather related keyword. Let’s get into it.
The Top Queries from Google Trends’ Daily Search Trends
Not sure why, but January 2022 had a larger than typical number of phrases that Google Trends recorded as being queried over 10 million times. There are so many that we need to break them into different categories to examine them properly here in this post rather than just list them all out in one section. Let’s look at the top phrases related to sports:
- Antonio Brown – 1/2/2022 – 10,000,000+ queries
- Alabama vs Georgia – 1/10/2022 – 10,000,000+ queries
- Green Bay Packers – 1/22/2022 – 10,000,000+ queries
- Rams – 1/22/2022 – 10,000,000+ queries
- Super Bowl 2022 – 1/30/2022 – 10,000,000+ queries
- Joe Burrow – 1/30/2022 – 10,000,000+ queries
When you quit your team in spectacular fashion, people will query your name. That is the case with Antonio Brown as he left the field mid-game on the 2nd. The College Football Playoff National Championship was held on the 10th and drove search interest in the outcome of that game. The remaining phrases are all NFL-related and are a mix of the victorious and the defeated (sorry, Packers fans).
One note on the Super Bowl phrase, our team at AMP agency has uncovered a keen insight for marketers who seek to tie their efforts to the Big Game. Super Bowl search interest traditionally starts in earnest right after the outcomes of the conference championship games. If you’re looking to capture the attention of the audience who is planning Super Bowl parties or other activities related to the game, dial up your campaigns 2 weeks before it. That’s when the mindset changes!
Two holidays drove people to search last month. Here’s the data we captured for them:
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day – 1/16/2022 – 10,000,000+ queries
- Lunar New Year – 1/31/2022 – 10,000,000+ queries
The query numbers for both holidays were assisted by Google Doodles. Modified corporate logos on Google’s site tends to drive many queries of the topic the Doodle is associated with, including this Polish avant-garde sculptor:
- Katarzyna Kobro – 1/25/2022 – 10,000,000+ queries
Google posted this Doodle in honor of what would have been the artist’s 124th birthday. Lastly, there were a couple of keyword phrases related to celebrity deaths and births:
- Bob Saget – 1/9/2022 – 10,000,000+ queries
- Betty White birthday – 1/17/2022 – 10,000,000+ queries
When there is a celebrity death, the search volume on their name spikes and we see it in the Daily Search Trends. Bob Saget’s death was surprising and drove over 10 million queries.
On what would have been Betty White’s 100th birthday, Google updated their results to show an animated overlay in tribute to the late actress.
This Google result Easter Egg could be seen throughout the day on the 17th.
Tensions On The Ukraine Border
The news of Russia building up its armed forces near Ukraine led people to search in order to learn more about the escalation:
- Ukraine – 1/19/2022 – 200,000+ queries
- Ukraine – 1/23/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Ukraine – 1/24/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
You can see that the need for updates and news on this situation was a multi-day affair.
From the World of Entertainment
It’s always interesting to see what’s distracting us from more pressing issues. If you want to know what’s hot in entertainment, check out Daily Search Trends from Google Trends:
- Daniel Radcliffe – 1/1/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Eternals – 1/11/2022 – 500,000+ queries
- Adam Sandler – 1/11/2022 – 500,000+ queries
- Scream 5 – 1/14/2022 – 200,000+ queries
- Moon Knight – 1/17/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
- When We Were Young Festival – 1/18/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Jeopardy! – 1/26/2022 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Neil Young – 1/27/2022 – 500,000+ queries
So, here’s our breakdown of the list. Daniel Radcliffe was in the Harry Potter reunion special called Return to Hogwarts. Why people searched his name rather than the special is unknown. Google Trends is odd like that.
The film, Eternals, started to stream on Disney+ on the 11th and the fifth installment of the Scream movie franchise hit theaters on the 14th. A trailer for the Disney+ series Moon Knight premiered on the 17th and the lineup for the When We Were Young Festival was announced on the 18th.
A rumor about Adam Sandler’s death that was started and spread on TikTok drove people to query his name. At this writing, those rumors are unfounded. Amy Schneider’s winning streak came to an end on 26th, pushing the game show name into the Google Trends daily top 3. Lastly, Neil Young wanted off of Spotify in protest of Joe Rogan’s podcast. He got his wish on the 26th.
Winter Comes With Warnings
There were a few storms that triggered winter storm warning alerts in the month of January 2022 and we saw when they happened by looking at Google Trends:
Winter storm warning – 1/5/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
Winter storm warning – 1/28/2022 – 2,000,000+ queries
Winter storm warning – 1/31/2022 – 2,000,000+ queries
The AMP SEO team is looking into the uniformity of the query over these three days. We believe that the phrase is attached to a Google search feature or Google Trends is compiling multiple “winter storm warning” phrases under one heading. Once we learn more, we’ll report it. We wonder if this query will become more commonplace in the daily top 3.
Other News Items
When news breaks, people search. While we were dealing with winter storms in the USA, Tonga was dealing with a volcano causing many types of disruption.
- Tonga – 1/15/2022 – 5,000,000+ queries
Back at home, people seeking to get rich quickly were searching to learn more about the Powerball jackpot that grew to over half a billion dollars.
- Powerball – 1/1/2022 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Powerball – 1/4/2022 – 2,000,000+ queries
Congrats to the winner! Last month, we stated that we didn’t want to report on any more COVID terms but here we are:
- IHU variant – 1/4/2022 – 500,000+ queries
Thankfully, there were not any other COVID queries in January 2022.
Wha? Taco Bell Has Wings?
Taco Bell offered wings for a limited time and the excitement for this new menu item was seen in Google Trends.
- Taco Bell wings – 1/6/2022 – 500,000+ queries
The AMP SEO team loves to see food items make the daily top 3. We’ll keep watching to see if and/or when wings come back.
The Top Business Queries
There were a good number of keyword phrases related to different business items so we grouped them together for this section:
- Microsoft – 1/18/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Peloton – 1/20/2022 – 200,000+ queries
- Google Docs – 1/24/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Dow Jones – 1/24/2022 – 1,000,000+ queries
Microsoft reportedly is acquiring Activision Blizzard and drew interest from the gaming crowd. Peloton announced they were going to halt production of its bikes and treadmills as demand waned. On the 24th, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 450 points and Google Docs rolled out a new watermark feature. Both topics were big enough news to drive people to search and learn more.
January Is For The NFL
If you don’t know already, topics related to sports drive many people to search in Google. The NFL playoffs happened throughout the month so there were many keyword phrases related to the team, games, and players in our database. Since a few of them made the 10 million plu query club, we thought we’d just showcase the 5 million plus queries to round out the story.
- Raiders – 1/9/2022 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Cowboys – 1/15/2022 – 5,000,000+ queries
- NFL – 1/15/2022 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Rams – 1/16/2022 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Chiefs – 1/16/2022 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Buffalo Bills – 1/23/2022 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Tom Brady – 1/29/2022 – 5,000,000+ queries
All of these teams played in the playoffs, with Tom Brady’s retirement making headlines (even though it wasn’t official) on the 29th. Next month, we will examine the Super Bowl queries leading up to and on the day of the championship game.
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.
