(Real) Top Searches on Google

  1. Accuracy.
  2. Getting it right.
  3. Not settling for “just enough.”

These are three (principles) that our founder has always believed.

As a result, every time you search for “most searched” (or “most searched word on google”) or “top google searches,” Brandon is never happy with what still comes up as the results.   While Google is “improving” at delivering on our “intent,” the people delivering you the data still haven’t done a good job of giving you the true numbers.

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The latest post: Top 100 Google Searches April 2021

More detail behind the Top Searched (Key)words on Google (& the Internet) below..

Before providing you more insight as to how this year’s list was culled together, let’s give you what you came here for: the “top keywords” list and their respective numbers.

Top 10 (~13) Most Searched Words on Google in 2019 Top 10 Keywords on Google 2019

As you can see, there are 13 keyword phrases in the Top 10 because when calculating the estimates for the number of monthly searches for each term, google needs to take an average from historical numbers.   In one month or even one day, there may be an extraordinary change upward or downward with these phrases, but in general, these are the most popular terms searched on Google.

More Top 100 Searched Keywords in 2019

Top ~25 Most Searched Words on Google

~Top 25 Most Searched Words on Google

Top ~50 Most Searched Words on Google

The rest of the ~Top 100 Most Searched Words on Google

More about 2019’s study on the Most Searched Keywords on Google

This version of the annual top keywords study was the most extensive and rigorous study in years.   We examined all the results for the searches:

  • most searched word on google
  • top google searches
  • top searches
  • most searched
  • most searched on google today

These were the search queries we believed were the most applicable to our study.   Our goal like Sergey Brin and Larry Page’s is to provide the most relevant result for the query.

When looking at the results, we do admit they have improved.   Instead of simply providing the ways to find top searches or links to Google Trends or their annual year end study on the Top trends, there were actually 2 lists that have almost answered the question appropriately.

Originally, Siegmedia made a nice infographic, but had the worst estimates.   The numbers were incredibly off.   We specifically audited these estimates and showed all the errors in an earlier post.   A company we do respect and has placed effort in answering this question appropriately is Ahrefs.   The list of terms start to appear as if they are legitimate, but as you continue down the list, you’ll find they omit MANY of the terms that could be on the list.   Their list says:

# Keyword Search Volume
Return Rate
1 facebook 236,700,000 11.32
2 youtube 194,800,000 6.52
3 amazon 103,300,000 4.46
4 gmail 91,310,000 5.63
5 google 84,660,000 4.36
6 ebay 58,830,000 4.7
7 yahoo 57,040,000 8.28
8 craigslist 53,000,000 4.45
9 weather 52,340,000 5.08
10 yahoo mail 51,390,000 6.53
11 google maps 41,320,000 3.77
12 netflix 39,050,000 3.42
13 walmart 38,790,000 2.68
14 google translate 36,840,000 5.28
15 google docs 28,470,000 5.04

#1, #2 are correct and despite #3 being wrong and the terms in the top 5 being debateable, the list starts to break down as you move beyond that.   We’ll also concede that it’s o.k. remove the adult terms.   Also, they may not be taking into account international terms which is one of the reasons why we believe our study is so much better.   However, their #8 proves how their list truly does not take in current estimates.

Craigslist has dropped off significantly for some time now:

craigslist monthly searches volume

In general, the Ahrefs estimates are underestimating the number of monthly searches, but here, they overestimate how many searches are conducted for interest in craigslist.

However, the biggest reason why this is a problem is they neglect to show you that there are many phrases that are truly being sought out more than “craigslist” like:

  • news – 55.6 million/mo
  • roblox – 55.6 million/mo
  • restaurants – 55.6 million/mo

And many more.   It’s why we decided to produce our report and why we believe it is so important to make sure this annual study is done as effectively as possible.

Methodology behind SOS’s 2019 Most Searched Keywords Study

As we stated, we want to be as exhaustive and accurate as possible.   So, to produce this, we audited all the lists in the SERPs including:

  • Mondovo’s top keywords list
  • Ahref’s top keywords list
  • Google’s top keyword trends in 2018
  • Siegmedia’s list

We also went through our past lists from 2010 through last year and produced the most recent monthly search number estimates.   We also examined all the top brands in the U.S. and the World.   We went through Moz’s top 500 domains as well.   We also did individual keyword checks on a ton of other categories as well to produce as many potential keywords the other studies fail to find.

While we can’t guarantee we’ve exposed EVERY single term that is being sought after every single month, we can guarantee it is the most comprehensive in the SERPs (search engine results pages) for all the phrases we shared above.   As a result, we believe we have the best list of “most searched words on google” on the Internet today.

The Many Errors in the Results you find in Google

In previous studies, I would pick on one list that had MANY errors in it.   Many of these lists had most likely leveraged our pioneering study on the Top 100 searches we started in 2010. Over time, I do have to admit these lists have become better.   They’ve had more financial and development support in building their auto generated lists.   As a result, their lists of top searches were much more aesthetically pleasing.   However, despite all of their development and financial backing, there lists continue to have many errors and fail to truly put the effort we put forth in looking for every nook and cranny.

One of the lists that comes up very high in the organic results is one produced by an Indian company called Mondovo.   The newer list has definitely improved the landscape for the inquiry, BUT it still shows how many of the estimates are incredibly wrong.

Auditing Mondovo’s list, only 917 of the 1000 terms they listed had data available.   And the discrepancies in the search volumes were sometimes incredible significant which basically influences in LARGE ways sometimes what is more demanded vs. others.   Also, there were phrases that weren’t even in the list like:

  • google traduction which had 55,600,000 monthly searches
  • car – 9,140,000 searches a month
  • mp3 download – 9,140,000
  • psg – 9,140,000
  • maybank2u – 6,120,000
  • drive – 13,600,000
  • emag – 5,000,000
  • epl – 5,000,000
  • github – 2,740,000

They also made numerous errors like spelling google = goggle:

goggle chrome 16,600,000
goggle docs 16,600,000
goggle images 9,140,000
goggle mail 4,090,000
goggle news 9,140,000

And estimated terms like “greater toronto area” as a phrase that obtains 9,140,000 times a month, but in actuality, it is searched 9,900 times a month which makes more sense.   Why would a phrase like this be sought after that many times?   Larger cities or more newsworthy cities as well with “greater” appended on the front of them don’t obtain (most likely) anything close to ~9 million searches a month. They made MANY other errors in estimates including:

  • “international mathematics olympiad” being searched 16,600,000/mo.   I don’t think all the students, parents and everyone interested in the event equate to 1/s this number.
  • “internet movie database” being searched 11,100,000/mo
  • “java -djava.security.policy” being searched over six (6) million times a month?   Really?
  • And the last interesting example of false information was “patriot ordnance factory” producing 16,600,000 searches a month which is actually searched 2900/month.

There are definitely “trends” that pop up into the landscape of searches, BUT their lists are obviously being updated through a feed which unfortunately produces all these errors.

Lastly, phrases that are specific to India proves their numbers might even be numbers specific to https://www.google.co.in/:

They estimate that the phrase “state bank india online” produces 13,600,000 searches a month, but when google estimates their numbers from all locations, it specifically says only 49,500 monthly searches occur.

monthly search estimates for state bank india online

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