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Google's search field: Many people were interested in the Ukraine war this year
Photo: Google
“Why is Russia attacking Ukraine?”: No other “why question” has occupied Google users as much this year as this one.
The attack by the Russian army on the neighboring country dominated several sections of the yearly charts of the search engine for Germany in 2022, as the company announced on Wednesday.
For example, the list of “Common Search Terms” for 2022 is headed by the term “Ukraine,” ahead of other popular keywords like “Queen.”
However, the war is also reflected in the ranking of the "headlines", where "Ukraine" is ahead of "monkeypox" and the "9-euro ticket", as well as in the questions of the year and in those designated by Google as "trending". politicians.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin not only tops the German Google charts in the "Politician" category, but also in the "Prominent Personalities" category.
Here he leaves behind, among others, the quarreling ex-partners Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.
Boris Becker, who is currently in prison in England, came fourth on this list, ahead of Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, who made headlines for refusing to vaccinate.
Many people also googled for the Greens politician Anne Spiegel, who resigned in April after only five months as Federal Minister for Family Affairs.
She had been accused of failure as Rhineland-Palatinate environment minister during the flood disaster in the Ahr valley.
She ended up in second place in the politician list.
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is in third place on the politicians' charts, no doubt because of his closeness to the wartime leader Putin.
Lots of »how questions« about the pandemic
The corona pandemic no longer appears in the top five of general search terms and headlines, but this also has to do with the methodology: Google determines its annual charts by evaluating billions of search queries that its users have made over the course of the year.
However, all published lists revolve around "trending searches", i.e. search queries that have recorded a particularly strong increase in search interest compared to the previous year.
The monkeypox disease, which also broke out in Germany last summer, met with a sharp increase in interest this year.
However, the list of the most popular "how questions" shows that there is still a need for information about the pandemic: "How long does the quarantine last?" comes second in this overview and "How long does a PCR test take? « in fourth place, followed by »How long is it considered recovered?«.
The enthusiasm for sports among people in Germany can also be read from the Google trends.
Despite the poor performance of the German men's national soccer team, the term "WM 2022" took second place behind "Ukraine" among general search queries.
The topic »Olympia 2022« came in third place.
"What are acra?"
The most popular "what question" sounds strange at first: Many people asked themselves "What are acra?".
However, loyal viewers of the quiz show »Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?« know where the topic comes from.
Because with exactly that question, a candidate on the RTL show in January almost gambled away a big win.
Only when moderator Günther Jauch was able to talk the flight attendant out of a possibly wrong answer did she give up and go home with a profit of 290,000 euros.
"Akros" is Greek for "the utmost", so the answer "fingers and toes" was sought on the show - and not "Zugspitze and Mont Blanc", which the candidate had initially tended towards.
In the “Farewell” section, Google 2022 users were primarily concerned with the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
There was also great interest in the early death of pop singer Aaron Carter.
The actress Anne Heche, who died as a result of a car accident, was also frequently searched for - as was the football idol Uwe Seeler, who died at the age of 85.
mbo/dpa
