Most Searched Things on Google in 2024

The most searched thing on Google in 2023 was ‘youtube’ – taking the top keyword crown for the fourth year running.

Will it win in 2024? Without a crystal ball, there’s only one way to answer that. Data. And so far, that data says yes.

Using the power of Similarweb’s super  fresh keyword data, we put together – and regularly update – this list of the top searches on Google for the year so far to help curious marketers like you, understand:

• Your target market and target audiences’ search behaviors
• Any gaps you have in your content or traffic acquisition strategy
• Search trends and topics to include in your strategy this year
• Trending searches for paid and organic campaigns

Get worldwide, US and UK keyword data, as well as analysis into the key stats we’ve pulled.

Top 100 Google Searches Worldwide

Here’s a sneak peek into the full list of the top 1,000 Google searches worldwide, which you can download below.

Key stats about the most searched keywords worldwide

‘Youtube‘ dominates the top searches, earning 2.15 billion clicks and 353 million average monthly searches. Additionally, users are searching for YouTube using the keyword ‘yt,’ which generates 485.1 million clicks and 39.1 million average monthly searches.

‘Whatsapp web’ was the second most searched keyword in Google, earning 2.14 billion clicks and capturing 5.13% of the search traffic share.

Coming in third is ‘Facebook,’ with an impressive 2.31 billion clicks, earning 2.98% of the search market share.

‘ChatGPT‘ continues to capture searches in 2024, generating 1.04 billion clicks and holding a substantial 2.30% share of the overall search market.

Top 100 Google Searches in the US

Key stats: The most searched keywords in the US

‘YouTube‘ leads US searches, capturing about 4.31% of the US search market, followed by ‘facebook’ which gets 2.48% of the search market share.

‘ChatGPT‘ appears to have lost traction since last month, experiencing a 39.04% month-over-month decline in traffic volume, making it the 17th most searched keyword of 2024 so far.

‘Amazon‘ receives 250.49 million clicks, making it the third most searched term, with an average monthly search volume of 70.05 million.

Ranked fourth is ‘Google,’ with an average of 12.1 million monthly searches and 240 million clicks.

Top 100 Google Searches in the UK

Key stats: The most searched keywords in the UK

‘BBC News’ ranks as the second most searched keyword in the UK, capturing an impressive 1.99% of the total search market share with an average of 13.92 million monthly searches.

Meanwhile, ‘BBC iPlayer,’ ranked 11th, commands 0.94% of the UK search market share and attracts an average of 2.4 million monthly searches.

Interestingly, ‘Google Maps’ has amassed 45.52 million searches, ranking second overall. On average, it generates 4 million searches per month, representing 1.5% of the search market share.

A rising keyword to watch is ‘SearchGPT,’ which has seen a remarkable 75% month-over-month growth. Currently, it ranks 88th in the UK search landscape.

What do the most Google searches tell marketers?

Search behavior and results

• ‘Youtube’ was the most searched query in the world, and the YouTube domain achieved more clicks than the social media giant Facebook
• The average zero click is at 31% for the top 100 terms. Despite the appearance of SERP features for many of these queries, users still choose to click on them
• The top 100 keywords world wide on average have navigational intent and 52% of searches are made on desktop devices.

Top Google searches offer market insights: Leverage popular search terms like ‘ChatGPT’ (#4), ‘YouTube music’ (#24), ‘Temu’ (#32), and ‘Yahoo finance’ (#68) to inform your marketing and pricing strategies, reflecting interests and the current economic climate.

Paid traffic in the top Google searches 2024

•  The most expensive search term in the top 1,000 is ‘autoowners’ with a CPC of $13.83

How to find the most searched terms on Google

To create these top 100 lists, we used our Demand Trends feature and our Keyword Research Tool, here’s a quick breakdown of how to do it:

• In the Market Analysis suite, go to ‘Demand Trends’
• Select ‘All Industries’ as shown below, or – to get a more targeted list – choose a specific industry
• Select either ‘Worldwide’ data or a specific country in the country filter on the top right

Then, to sort by search volume (like we did) or for other further analysis, download the full list and filter from there.

Methodology

• We updated this page in November 2024 using data from January to November. This provides you with an accurate and reliable view of the search landscape and top searches during that period
• The lists are for worldwide, US and UK specifically
• We have included: average monthly search volume, web traffic (how many of the searches end up going to a website), organic and paid traffic (split by whether or not a searcher clicked on a paid ad), and behind-the-scenes, we looked at CPC (the average cost per click to capture the traffic searching this term)

Similarweb Digital Marketing Intelligence allows you to view things people search for by country and industry. Our data covers billions of keywords worldwide (we’re constantly growing our keyword list each and every day, with real searches as they happen), and we analyze over 2 terabytes of data each day.

FAQs

What was the most searched term on Google in 2024?

Globally, the most searched term on Google is ‘YouTube,’ with a current monthly average of 353.1M searches. In 2023, it received a total of 4.1 billion searches, while ‘Facebook’ ranked second with 2.9 billion searches.

What is the most searched term on Google in the USA in 2024?

In the US, ‘YouTube’ leads as the most searched Google term, averaging 64.1M monthly searches so far in 2024.

What is the most searched term on Google in the UK in 2024?

In the UK, ‘YouTube’ remains the top search term for 2024, averaging 15.8M searches per month. ‘BBC News’ comes in second, with around 15.4M monthly searches.

by Limor Barenholtz

Director of SEO at Similarweb

Limor brings 20 years of SEO expertise, focusing on Technical SEO, JavaScript rendering, and mobile optimization. She thrives on solving complex problems and creating scalable strategies.