It’s hard to remember (or imagine) what life was like before the World Wide Web. How else would you instantly find out what demure means, hunt down the cheapest Gold Coast flights, or find the best Jamie Oliver’s air fryer recipe? Thanks to Google, those answers are now at our fingertips – which can be both a blessing and a curse. Following in the footsteps of Spotify Wrapped 2024, the search giant has unveiled its round-up of Australia’s top trending searches this year, covering a range of fascinating topics.
Google’s Year in Search report doesn’t just focus on the most popular searches – otherwise, we’d just get weather updates – instead revealing a list of news stories, recipes, definitions, people and travel trends that saw a spike in traffic throughout 2024.
‘Who won the US election’ was the most searched question on Google in Australia this year, with ‘US election’ emerging as the top trending search overall. The Olympics topped the list as the most searched sporting event, while ‘Olympics medal tally’ ranked as the second top trending term overall in 2024. We’re a country of sporty spices with five of the top trending searches focused on sports, including the Euros (referring to the UEFA Euro 2024 football tournament), Copa America (the South American football competition), T20 World Cup (cricket) and wheelchair tennis Paralympics.
As expected, the Olympics made multiple appearances on this year’s trending leaderboards, with breakdancer Raygun, Matildas’ captain Sam Kerr, champion canoeist Jess Fox, BMX racer Saya Sakakibara, young skateboarder Arisa Trew and swimming star Ariarne Titmus all included in the top trending Aussie public figures. The number one spot went to Australian advertising entrepreneur and millionaire John Singleton.
‘Olympics chocolate muffin recipes’ cracked the leaderboard for the top trending recipe searches in Australia this year, trailing behind only ‘Jamie Oliver air fryer recipes’, ‘Cucumber salad recipe’ and ‘Pornstar Martini recipe’.
Wondering where Aussies have been dreaming about travelling? Cheap and cheerful was the name of the game, with locals interested in domestic flights to the Gold Coast, King Island, Ballina and Surfers Paradise. Internationally, our sights were set on China, Italy, Bangkok and Japan.
One more fun category in Google’s Year in Search 2024 focused on the top trending searches for definitions. Coming out on top was ‘demure’ – which Google tells us means reserved, modest and shy (typically used of a woman) – with solfege, vox, monticello and sobriquet rounding out the top five. Yes, we also had to search up each one of those ourselves – thanks, Google! You can check out all the top trending terms from Google’s Year in Search 2024 here, or see our snapshot below.
The top trending searches overall in Australia 2024:
- US election
- Olympics medal tally
- Euros
- Liam Payne
- Taylor Swift
- Connections
- Copa America
- T20 World Cup
- Ticketek marketplace
- Wheelchair tennis Paralympics
The top trending searches for definitions in Australia 2024:
- Demure
- Solfege
- Vox
- Monticello
- Sobriquet
- Katz
- Biota
- Ascot
- Ergo
- Baroque
The top trending searches for recipes in Australia 2024:
- Jamie Oliver air fryer
- Cucumber salad
- Pornstar martini
- Olympics chocolate muffins
- Oatzempic
- Bitter melon
- Crumbl cookie
- Plant based
- Colcannon
- Salt tea
The top trending searches for Aussie public figures in Australia 2024:
- John Singleton
- Julian Assange
- Raygun
- Sam Kerr
- Bruce Lehrmann
- Jacob Elordi
- Jess Fox
- Saya Sakakibara
- Arisa Trew
- Ariarne Titmus
The top trending searches for domestic travel in Australia 2024:
- Cheap flights to Gold Coast from Melbourne
- Flights to King Island
- Jetstar cheap flights to Melbourne
- Flights to Sydney from Ballina
- Cheap flights to Brisbane from Melbourne
- Flights to Surfers Paradise
- Flights to Port Hedland
- Flights to Karratha
- Flights to Launceston from Melbourne
- Flights to Uluru from Sydney
The top trending searches for international travel in Australia 2024:
- Visa free travel to China
- Flights to Italy from Melbourne
- Flights to Bangkok from Melbourne
- Jetstar flights to Japan
- Jetstar flights to Phuket
- Flights to Philippines from Sydney
- Flights to Bali today
- Flights to Peru
- Flights to Kathmandu
- Flights to Vanuatu from Brisbane
