• Google has revealed the top searches made by South Africans on the platform for 2022.
• This compilation is based on local search trends collated by Google, broken down in categories for better analysis.
• The overall top search relates to SASSA social grants, with other top Google searches giving an indication of what was on the minds of South Africans for the last 12 months.

It’s always interesting to discover what the Google Search trends were once a year is wrapping up. It gives hints to a society’s zeitgeist, literally what is on the minds of its people. What they are curious about. The things they want more information on.

On Wednesday, Google released its Year in Search results for 2022, which outlines the trends and gives insights into all of the information and questions South Africans sought out in the last 12 months.

The results show that for the second year in a row, the top trending search term in South Africa related to social grants as individuals sought to find out more about the R350 SASSA Social Relief (SRD) grant.

Wordle, the online word game that exploded in popularity this year, was the second most searched term by South Africans, followed by climate change especially in the wake of the April 2022 floods that devastated parts of KwaZulu-Natal.

Other top trending searches were related to the war in Ukraine, loadshedding, typhoid fever and monkeypox.

Google’s Year in Search is an annual analysis compiled by the tech giant detailing the top trending lists and spotlights what countries around the world are searching, seeing and doing.

This year was characterised by more loadshedding than ever before, the beginning of conventional warfare between Russia and Ukraine, the FIFA World Cup and the unfortunate passing of a number of high profile South Africans, which all turned the public towards the internet’s most popular search engine.

“This year’s results show that Google is a trusted source of information when South Africans are uncertain, sad, or looking for ways to learn more or entertain themselves,” says Dr Alistair Mokoena, Country Director for Google South Africa, in a press statement sent to Hypertext.

American rapper Jaden Smith topped the list for most searched person by South Africans this year, followed in second place by his father Will Smith who was searched alongside Chris Rock after the slap heard around the world during this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard occupied third and fourth places after their protracted and highly publicised court case.

Local music was rocked by heartwrenching deaths, including the passing of rapper Riky Rick, only 34, who was the most searched loss, even beating out the death of Queen Elizabeth II in South Africa.

People also turned to Google to find out more following the deaths of musicians Dj Sumbody, Takeoff and Dj Dimplez.

Google searches for TV shows and movies were topped by Big Brother Mzansi in South Africa, with the Netflix Addams Family adaptation, Wednesday, following in second place. This is notable because Wednesday only released in late November, and managed to become the second most-searched series of the year in just over a month’s time.

“Black Panther 2” and “Wakanda Forever” both feature in the top 10 trending searches for TV shows and movies.

In terms of sport, football occupies the top three searches. World Cup 2022 fixtures was the top trending sports search, followed by “Afcon” and South Africa’s women’s football team Banyana Banyana.

The rest of the top 10 also features searches for tennis (Australian Open), Rugby (Springboks v All Blacks) and cricket (South Africa v India).

The top “What is…” search trend, which encapsulates the topics and ideas that people are most curious was shocking this year. Somehow “vabbing,” a terrible, terrible act beat out “global warming” as the concept South Africans were most interested in this year. A dire indication for our status as a society.

Other curiosity searches included “what is drought”, “who is the new Black Panther” and “how to check matric results online”.

Here are the full trending Google searches for 2022 in South Africa:

[Image – Nathana Rebouças on Unsplash]