Google releases top internet searches for the year

Some of the most highly ranked internet searches for Australia in 2016 include ‘how to play Pokemon Go’, ‘where is New South Wales’, and ‘why is my poop green’.

Google has released its annual ‘Year in Search’ statistics, revealing the top Australian search trends of the year.

The five major topics that attracted Google searches were sport and games, politics and politicians, tragedies, celebrity deaths and extreme weather events.

The Olympics, Melbourne Cup and Pokemon Go were of particular interest, as well as scores for the Australian Open, AFL and Super Rugby.

Donald Trump was the most trending politician overall, while Pauline Hanson was Australia’s top trending politician. In addition, many Australians were keen to discover the meaning of the word ‘plebiscite’.

The shock and tragedies of the Dreamworld accident and Brussels drew heightened levels of internet traffic, while cricketer Chris Gayle’s controversial interview with Mel McLaughlin on live TV was also highly ranked. Tara Brown’s imprisonment in Lebanon was closely followed, as were the Australian Census and the Brexit incident in the UK.

The deaths of David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Alan Rickman, Muhammad Ali, Gene Wilder and Rebecca Wilson attracted a great deal of interest from Australians.

Other events of interest included the total solar eclipse, Hurricane Matthew and the Zika virus. In addition, countless memes were spawned following the death of Harambe the gorilla.

Go to google.com/2016 to explore the rest of the 2016 Year in Search stories and top trending charts from around the world.

Image credit: ©Nmedia/Dollar Photo Club