The Strangest Things We Googled in 2023

By Shubhendu Vatsa - News

Published: 2 Jan 2024

As 2023 draws to a close, it’s time we look back at the year that was. For some, the last 12 months have been fraught with cost of living challenges, rising rental prices and a stark shortage of Sriracha, but for others, 2023 has been a period of discovery. Thankfully, our good friends at Google have had our backs the whole time. The tech giant recently released its own version of Spotify Wrapped dubbed ‘Year in Search,’ highlighting what kept us glued to our phones and frantically searching all year long.

Google’s 2023 Year in Search list is based on top-trending searches in Australia, tracking what had the highest spikes in traffic compared to last year. This year also marks 25 years of Google Search, and to celebrate this “quarter-century of curiosity,” the company has kicked off its 25-year celebration with a special edition of Year in Search, highlighting the “most searched people, places, and things not just from the past year worldwide, but of all time.”

For this year’s Year in Search, the recent network-wide outage at Australia’s second-largest telco Optus, which left half the country without phone or internet for 12 hours, led news trends in 2023, per Google’s global data. This was followed by searches related to the war in Israel and Gaza and the Voice referendum results. Also, our insatiable, somewhat morbid curiosity about Andrew Tate reached unprecedented levels this year, as he somehow managed to snag the fourth spot in Google’s news trends.

As for the top trending Australian personalities on search this year, Sam Kerr reigned supreme, according to Google data. The Australian football star striker took everyone by storm in November, revealing her engagement to her partner and fellow professional player, Kristie Mewis.

Kerr was followed by another Aussie footballer, Mary Fowler, whose relationship with Nathan Cleary sparked controversy among teammates. If this year’s top trending personalities don’t give it away, we also clearly love watching soccer, as “How to watch Women’s World Cup” was the top-trending “How to…” search in 2023.

Oh, and apparently, we’re also keen on securing our privacy online. Searches for “How to lock Facebook profile” were hot on the heels of the World Cup, followed by “How to vote referendum.” While football stars dominated individual search trends, Cricket reigned supreme in this year’s top trending Aussie sports searches, with the Cricket World Cup taking the lead. It was followed by the Ashes and the Women’s World Cup.

Margot Robbie in 'Barbie' (2023) | Image: Warner Bros. Pictures — Margot Robbie in ‘Barbie’ (2023) | Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

2023 saw the passing of several notable figures, but none resonated quite as deeply as Matthew Perry. His unexpected passing led this year’s search trends for loss, alongside Jock Zonfrillo. Meanwhile, the entertainment world witnessed its own share of trends. Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece ‘Oppenheimer‘ dominated movie searches, securing its place as the most searched-for movie of the year. It was followed by Gerwig’s ‘Barbie‘ and the critically acclaimed ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once‘ came in third.

The Coronation quiche, fit for a king (and queen!), ruled the recipe charts in 2023, proving tradition can still be trendy. The nostalgia-fueled Grimace Shake took the second spot and through the whirlwind of it all, Anzac biscuits, coming in as the fourth most searched recipe, reminded us that the simplest pleasures often win. This year, we even turned into DIY wizards, learning how to make everything from paper poppers to kinetic sand.

Top DIY searches on Google for 2023 | Image: Google

“How to make a paper popper” topped the DIY/how-to trends in 2023, followed by “How to make rosemary water for hair.” But it wasn’t all glitter and ice baths. While the world grappled with global issues, we also remained curious, with “why is Israel and Hamas at war?” topping the “why is…” searches. Closer to home, we Aussies wondered about the Optus outage and Twitter’s rebranding as X. Talk about a mind trip!

If you’re interested in finding more about what else filled our searches this year, here’s a look at Google’s 2023 Year in Search report for Australia:

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