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The Google Austria Year in Review 2021 shows what Austrians typed into the Google search engine particularly often this year.
According to the report, users were particularly interested in the European soccer championship – “EM” displaced “Corona” in second place among the top search terms. “Corona continued to dominate search queries this year like no other topic,” said Wolfgang Fasching-Kapfenberger, press spokesman for Google Austria.
Corona, lockdown, everything gurgles and Corona numbers occupied the Austrians
Google provides in its evaluation with the “trending searches” the search terms that have risen the most compared to the previous year. Corona continues to be in the lead – this is also the picture painted by the top 10 search terms: In addition to “corona” in second place, “alles gurgelt” in third place, “lockdown” in fourth place and “corona numbers” in seventh place. The pandemic also dominates the “Chronicle Austria” category. For example, Austrians were looking for information on buying an FFP2 mask, entering Italy and Austria, or vaccination rates. And the Corona theme was also reflected in the “How?” questions with “How long is a PCR test valid?” or “How long is one considered recovered?”, among others.
Rise in climate and environmental events
“Primarily, user interest this year revolved around the topics of testing and vaccination,” said Fasching-Kapfenberger. “Of particular interest to us was that for the first time in 2021, climate and environmental events saw a sharp increase in search queries.” That’s a sign of the increasing importance these topics have gained, she said. Frequent searches here were for weather warnings, but also for the climate ticket, for example.
The pandemic was not the only topic on which Austrians elicited information from the search engine. The time change, events in Afghanistan, and a glitch in the messenger service Whatsapp were the top terms for “news and headlines international.” But the ABBA comeback and the German parliamentary elections also prompted people to search the Internet. In addition to the European Championship in general, Austrians interested in sports also frequently googled the Champions League and the European Championship match between Austria and Italy. Three Grand Slam tournaments – first and foremost the Australian Open – are also in the sports event top ten, showing that there are not only many soccer fans in Austria, but also tennis fans.
Politicians and athletes are the Austrian VIPs most searched for – among the former are the two – now – former chancellors Sebastian Kurz and Alexander Schallenberg, as well as ex-minister Christine Aschbacher (all ÖVP), who caused a stir with a plagiarism affair. Tennis ace Dominic Thiem, former ski pro Marcel Hirscher and soccer player Marko Arnautovic were also frequently searched for. The latter also appeared in the “What?” questions: “What did Arnautovic say?” many asked, referring to a controversial statement in the Austria-North Macedonia European Championship match – after which David Alaba promptly tried to shut him up.
These athletes and stars were most sought after
Athletes in particular also rose in the rankings among international VIPs: The most frequently searched for was Danish soccer player Christian Eriksen, who suffered a cardiac arrest during a European Championship match. And modern pentathlete Annika Schleu, who made a highly controversial appearance at the Olympics, is also on the list, as is U.S. actor Alec Baldwin, who shot a camerawoman during a film shoot.
As in every year, there were some deaths to mourn in 2021: Austrians searched most frequently for German entertainer Willi Herren, who died unexpectedly, but also for top Austrian journalist Hugo Portisch, artist Arik Brauer and Queen Elizabeth’s husband Prince Philip.
With the help of Google, the Austrians also hoped to find answers to a wide range of questions. This year’s best-of list of “W questions” included the “almost philosophical question, where am I? Also to be found in it: “What does rawr mean?” and “How many genders are there?”
— sourcey: APA/vienna.at/picture: Image by Hebi B. from Pixabay
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