Google Canada’s Top Trends and Searches of 2012

Curious to know whatCanadians search for the most? The annual Google Canada Zeitgeis treveals what our fellow Canadians spent time searching for throughout the year.  Who knew that millions of Canadians Google Morgan Freeman every day? Overall, we remain fascinated by the biggest news, musicians, pop culture moments and of course in 2012, Olympians, as we searched some of the year’s most amazing feats and tragic losses. 

The Year’s Biggest Pop Culture Moments

The death of a music icon, a sports story straight from Hollywood, an incredible feat from the edge of space, a princess, two very different Armstrongs and the divorce Scientology didn’t see coming – check out the most popular celebrities of 2012.

Top 10 Most Searched Celebrities

1. Whitney Houston

2. Jeremy Lin

3. Michael Clarke Duncan

4. Morgan Freeman

5. Felix Baumgartner

6. Kate Middleton

7. Neil Armstrong

8. Carly Rae Jepsen

9. Lance Armstrong

10. Katie Holmes

Pinning!

The rise of Pinterest was a huge coup for the photo platform in 2012 as it surpassed Twitter, Bing and Yahoo to become the fourth-ranked referrer worldwide. So it should come as no surprise that “Pinterest” takes the top spot for the fastest rising search of the year. And for Pinterest newbies, it was also the eighth item to finish the trending question “What is…?” 

Top Trending Searches

1. Pinterest 

2. Hurricane Sandy

3. Olympics

4. Diablo 3

5. Gangham Style

6. Hunger Games 

7. SOPA 

8. Star Académie         

9. Kony 

10. Zerg Rush

Games On

The London Olympic Games were must-watch television this summer, and Canadians were busy searching for information on their favourite athletes. Tennis player Milos Raonic beat out diver Alexandre Despatie and women’s soccer team captain Christine Sinclair for the title of Canada’s most searched Olympian.

Top 5 Searched Canadian Olympians

1. Milos Raonic

2. Alexandre Despatie

3. Christine Sinclair

4. Clara Hughes 

5. Ryder Hesjedal       

Bring On the Bacon

The world is having a love affair with bacon as new blogs, memes and products put bacon in the news all year long. Three of Canada’s unofficial foods made the top 5, but couldn’t edge out everyone’s favourite pork product as the year’s most popular food.

1. Bacon        

2. Poutine      

3. Maple Syrup  

4. Yorkshire Pudding    

5. Bannock

The Future Job Market

Canadians’ job interests are as diverse as the country we call home. This year, the top five highest trending jobs were Civil Engineer, Pharmacist, Truck Driver, Veterinarian and Paralegal. Retail/Sales Associate, Electrical Engineer, Dancer, Software Developer and Financial Analyst rounded out the list. While these jobs trended high last year, when it comes to good old-fashioned searches, Teacher is still number one, followed by Nurse, Designer, Accountant and Mechanic. 

Biebs Still #1 in Canada

The Bielibers are still going strong as Justin tops the list of most searched Canadian musician – but he was edged out by boy band One Direction for the top spot on the list of most searched musicians overall. Carly Rae Jepsen’s hit “Call Me Maybe” earned her a first time appearance on the Zeitgeist list, coming in at third behind Drake for most searched Canadian musician and as mentioned, took the eighth place as the most searched celebrity overall.

Most Searched Musicians

1. One Direction        

2. Justin Bieber        

3. Drake        

4. Whitney Houston      

5. Rihanna      

6. Adele        

7. Taylor Swift 

8. Nicki Minaj  

9. Katy Perry   

10. Madonna

Most Searched Canadian Musicians

1. Justin Bieber        

2. Drake        

3. Carly Rae Jepsen     

4. Hedley       

5. deadmau5     

6. Nickelback    

7. Avril Lavigne        

8. Neil Young   

9. Bryan Adams   

10. Leonard Cohen