As Google Trends turns 15 on Wednesday, it released the most searched for topics on the search engine over this time in South Africa.
A look at the list reveals that, among other things, South Africans use the internet to find the answer to pressing questions, stay informed on topical issues, connect to government services, keep up with their favourite public figures and look for work, food, entertainment, and health-related information.
Google Trends shed some light on some of the top Google searches in South Africa over the past 15 years.
The top five searched questions are: Where to stay, how to make money fast, how to make love, what is love and what is my IP.
The top five current affairs searches are: Load shedding, Coronavirus South Africa, National treasury, Election Results and Heritage Day.
The top five searched South Africans are: Cassper Nyovest, followed by Cyril Ramaphosa, then Julius Malema, Jacob Zuma and Bonang Matheba.
The top five searched international celebrities are: Kim Kardashian, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, Lil Wayne and Christiano Ronaldo.
The top five sports events and tournament searches are: La Liga, Champions League, English Premier League, PSL standings and Rugby World Cup.
The top five job searches are: DPSA vacancies, Career Junction, Job Mail, Gumtree Jobs and Eskom vacancies.
The top five searched government services are: Home affairs, Department of labour, Department of Education, E-filing and Department of Home Affairs.
The top five searched educational services are: My Unisa, Google Scholar, UP portal, Puff and pass and University of Pretoria.
The top five searched “lyrics” are: All of me lyrics, Hallelujah lyrics, Adele’s Hello lyrics, Despacito lyrics and Thinking out loud lyrics.
The top five food searches are: Romans Pizza, KFC menu, Nandos menu, Debonairs pizza and Ocean basket.
The top five health related searches are: banting diet, pregnancy signs, apple cider vinegar, NHLS login and symptoms of coronavirus.
Google said it processes more than 40 000 search queries every second. This translates to more than a billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide.