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 September 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.
No Pumpkin Spice Here
We joke about the obsession with Pumpkin Spice and how more and more products get rolled out each Fall for us to consume. We didn’t see that trend appear in our collection of search queries, but we did see other Fall trends – namely Football. Yes, College and Professional football are back in season and so are the keywords associated with each sport. We have a good list of phrases to share. Google celebrated its own birthday and Taylor Swift partnered with Google and took over everything, we think. There was a lot of interest in political figures and Apple released a new iPhone. Lastly, our need for information about severe weather was plain and visible in our research and we’ll examine the timeline of a couple of tropical systems.
Google Celebrating Google
As we stated in the August 2023 report, there has been a bit of a dry spell when it comes to keyword queries topping the 10 million query mark in a 24 hour period. Well, Google’s birthday brought an end to the drought.
- Its Google’s 25th birthday – 9/26/2023 – 10,000,000+ queries
This phrase was attached to a click on Google’s updated logo that was animated, showcasing all of the previous logos and ending on a modified one where the number 25 was used.
Congrats, Google. Let’s see where the next 25 years bring.
Taylor’s World
Let’s just say it’s been quite a month for Taylor Swift and search interest. First, she partnered with Google to provide an interactive way to figure out the previously unreleased songs to be added to her re-released album “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” Google produced 89 puzzles that people could solve to learn the names of the new songs. You can see some interesting queries make the Daily Trends list.
- Taylor Swift vault – 9/18/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Taylor Swift – 9/19/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Love – 9/19/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- New York City – 9/19/2023 – 100,000+ queries
According to some sources, there was a glitch that occurred and prevented people from progressing with solving all the puzzles. The issue was reportedly fixed by Google and 33 million complete puzzle sets were solved by Wednesday September 20th. Moving on, there was news that Taylor was dating an NFL player. Did you hear about that? Well, the first rumor hit on the 16th and then interest really peaked on Sunday the 24th when she attended a Kansas City Chiefs game.
- Taylor Swift – 9/16/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Travis Kelce – 9/24/2023 – 5,000,000+ queries
Travis Kelce is not a stranger to these monthly search trends reports (he was the top searched phrase on September 5th) but he is in a different stratosphere for sure.
Other Phrases From The Entertainment Industry
There were other phrases that made the list related to the Entertainment Industry outside of Taylor Swift keywords. It’s an odd assortment. First off, Jimmy Buffet passed away on the 1st but the search interest was recorded on the 2nd.
- Jimmy Buffett – 9/2/2023 – 5,000,000+ queries
Country music singer Zach Bryan announced the end of his boycott of Ticketmaster with dates for his The Quitin Time Tour. The next day he was arrested in Oklahoma.
- Zach Bryan – 9/6/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Zach Bryan – 9/7/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
In other legal news, Danny Masterson, the actor who starred in the TV sitcom, That 70s Show was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison on the 7th. Keywords related to the show and his co-stars made the list.
- That ’70s Show – 9/7/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis – 9/11/2023 – 100,000+ queries
Lastly, MTV’s VMAs were held on the 12th, leading people to search for the highlights and news and the only film that made our collection of the daily top 3 was a Hulu exclusive.
- VMAs 2023 – 9/12/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- No One Will Save You – 9/22/2023 – 100,000+ queries
September Holidays
Last month had a couple of holidays that were queried heavily.
- Labor Day – 9/3/2023 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Mexican Independence Day – 9/14/2023 – 200,000+ queries
The Labor Day numbers were helped by a Google Doodle. Interest in Mexican Independence Day peaked on the 14th.
Regarding Government Officials
It was a busy month for people related to the federal government for different reasons. Mitt Romney announced he was not going to run again for US Senate on the same day that US Congresswoman Lauren Boebert was asked to leave a musical performance in Denver.
- Mitt Romney – 9/13/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- Boebert – 9/13/2023 – 100,000+ queries
Later in the week, a CCTV video of the incident in the theater was released and search interest in the US Representative peaked higher.
- Boebert – 9/15/2023 – 500,000+ queries
The Senator from New Jersey, Bob Menendez, was charged with bribery charges on the 22nd.
- Bob Menendez – 9/22/2023 – 500,000+ queries
The last week of the month was filled with other phrases related to politics.
- Government shutdown 2023 – 9/25/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- Cassidy Hutchinson – 9/26/2023 – 100,000+ queries
- Republican Debate – 9/27/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- Dianne Feinstein – 9/29/2023 – 2,000,000+ queries
People seeking information of this year’s potential government shutdown made the daily top 3 on the 25th. American former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson released a book entitled Enough about her time during the Trump administration. The second Republican Presidential Candidate debate was held on the 27th and the senior Senator from California passed away on the 29th.
Maybe They Are Fighting For Clicks
Colorado Buffaloes football has been quite the phenomenon this season and the timeline of keywords proves it.
- Colorado football – 9/1/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Deion Sanders – 9/2/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Colorado vs Nebraska – 9/9/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- Colorado football – 9/15/2023 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Colorado football – 9/15/2023 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Deion Sanders – 9/17/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Colorado vs Oregon – 9/22/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Colorado vs USC – 9/30/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
The AMP Agency team will keep an eye on this topic to see if the team’s popularity continues for the rest of the season. They certainly didn’t do well against Oregon.
There are college football programs besides Colorado’s and here are the rest of the phrases that made the list.
- Georgia football – 9/1/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- LSU football – 9/2/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Clemson football – 9/4/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Michigan State football – 9/9/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Ohio State vs Notre Dame – 9/23/2023 – 500,000+ queries
It’s always interesting to get a measure of the team’s fan base by seeing the search volume in Google Trends.
NFL
The National Football League started up their season and here’s the timeline for the month including Travis Kelce, who had a bone bruise injury on the 5th.
- Travis Kelce – 9/5/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- NFL – 9/7/2023 – 5,000,000+ queries
- NFL – 9/10/2023 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Aaron Rodgers – 9/10/2023 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Cowboys – 9/10/2023 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Aaron Rodgers – 9/11/2023 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Eagles – 9/14/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Cowboys – 9/17/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Chiefs – 9/17/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Nick Chubb Injury – 9/18/2023 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Steelers – 9/18/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- 49ers – 9/21/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Miami Dolphins – 9/24/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Raiders – 9/24/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Bengals – 9/25/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Packers – 9/28/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
Injuries to Nick Chubb and Aaron Rodgers were also search worthy. Segueing to the other type of football and also player injury, there was only one instance of Inter Miami that made the daily top 3 in September 2023.
- Inter Miami – 9/3/2023 – 500,000+ queries
Lionel Messi suffered an injury and did not play another game last month; therefore, the interest has dwindled.
Here’s The New iPhone (Same as the old iPhone)
As typical, Apple announced their new iPhone in September. This year, it was the 15th.
- iPhone 15 – 9/12/2023 – 2,000,000+ queries
Looking at last year’s announcement, the query volume was higher.
- iPhone 14 – 9/7/2022 – 5,000,000+ queries
Should we infer anything from the drop in search interest? Maybe. The anecdotal reaction is that the new model isn’t much different from the previous model.
Weather
It’s Hurricane Season and we saw search queries tracking Lee and then a tropical storm that made landfall on the 21st.
- Hurricane Lee – 9/5/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- Hurricane Lee path – 9/6/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Hurricane Lee path – 9/6/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- Tropical Storm – 9/21/2023 – 200,000+ queries
As we wrap up the report, we continue to look up and gaze at the Harvest Moon.
- Full moon September 2023 – 9/26/2023 – 200,000+ queries
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.
