Google has released its annual list of most searched for terms in just about every category imaginable. The results are also broken down by geography. Both Israel and the U.S. have had a few surprises on their Google search lists this year.
Admit it! You have searched for you own name on Google. Everyone does. Why? Because Google, with more than 90% of all of the web searches in the world, is probably the best indicator of popularity or importance. It also gives us the best window into what subjects and issues people are interested in and this data may be more accurate than any poll.
So who and what did Americans search for on Google?
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The number one Google search for 2020 was not Corona Virus, but election results. Coronavirus came in at number two. Kobe Bryant was third, Corona Virus update fourth and Coronavirus symptoms fifth. Zoom was number six on the list followed by who is winning the election, Naya Rivera, Chadwick Bosman and Playstation 5.
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Tom Hanks was the most searched for actor. He was followed by Chris D’Elia, Jada Pinkett Smith, Timothee Chalamet and Ricky Gervais. Under the category of people in general Joe Biden came in first. He was followed by Kim Jong Un, Kamala Harris, Jacob Blake and Ryan Newman. The President Elect also led the list of most searched for politicians followed by Kamala Harris, Boris Johnson, Pete Buttigieg and Mike Bloomberg.
Poor Donald Trump. He was not even among the top five for either politicians or people.
The Israel Google search the results will surprise no one. At number one on the list was of course Covid-19. Israel Ministry of Health came in second. Zoom came in fifth and Unemployment Service was ninth. The popular Israeli thriller television series “Tehran” which is now available on Amazon Prime was number eight.
An interesting result was number three on the list, N12. This is Israel’s channel 12 news website. It appears that Israel’s Channel 12 News is more popular than the news services of the country’s other two broadcast channels.
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In times of uncertainty, people seek understanding and meaning. 2020 was a year of deep questioning, as the world searched “why” more than ever, according to Google Trends. Explore more trends from the year at https://t.co/JdD6lj4ru9#YearInSearch pic.twitter.com/wAfuARB3u9
— Google (@Google) December 9, 2020
Women took the top three spots of people searched for by Israelis on Google. But not all for positive reasons.
Convicted felon Eti Alon came in at number one on that list. She was released in 2020 after serving 18 years in prison for embezzling about $100 million from the bank where she worked. Anat Elimelech came in second. The Israeli model was murdered by her boyfriend in 1997 when she was just 24 years old. This past year a new video was released of her work.
The number three most searched for person this past year in Israel was Naama Issachar, Issachar famously spent ten months in a Russian prison after 9.5 grams of marijuana was found in her luggage at the airport. She was only there to catch a connecting flight back to Israel after a trip to India. Issachar was pardoned by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on January 29, 2020 after Israel transferred the historical Alexander courtyard in Jerusalem – better known to locals as the Russian Compound — to the Russian Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society.