What You Searched For This Year, According to Google
Israel-Palestine dominated headlines across the region, while the Cricket World Cup and the Saudi Pro League dominated sports searches.
Across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt, Palestine-Israel topped search results this year, according to data from Google. Natural disasters like the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, the Saudi football league, and the devaluation of the Egyptian pound--which fell by an estimated 40% this year--followed closely behind. [1]
On the sports front, the Cricket World Cup dominated search results in the UAE, as did the Saudi Pro League, with games like PSG vs. Riyadh XI featuring prominently. In Saudi as well as in Egypt, the Saudi Pro League featured prominently, with El Helal football club dominating sports search results.
In the UAE, entertainment movie searches were dominated by the blockbuster Oppenheimer, while the 2023 Hindi film Jawan, Indian Tamil-language film Jailer, Hindi film Pathan, and Netflix animated film Leo were widely searched. Netflix’s popular series Wednesday topped movie show searches, followed by the Saudi drama series Shabab Al Bomb 11, the American post-apocalyptic drama television series The Last of Us, the fantasy adventure series One Piece, and the South Korean TV series King the Land.
In Saudi, entertainment searches included Shabab Al Bomb 11, Oppenheimer, Jawan, Barbie, and The Last of Us. In Egypt, entertainment searches included Egyptian movies Al Aghar and Darb Naar, and comedy series Balto (The Coat), thriller series Safah El Giza (The Giza Killer) and drama series Baba Almajal (Godfather of the Field).
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In Saudi Arabia, the Day of Arafa, Saudi National Day, and Riyadh Season dominated local results, as did the launch of Riyadh Airlines, which began operations in March of this year. Saudi government services web portal Absher featured among the top searches in the Kingdom, as did the devaluation of the Pakistan Rupee, which dropped by an estimated 20% against the dollar in 2023. [2]
In the UAE, Chandrayaan-3--India’s third space mission, which launched in July, the Gautam Adani Group crisis, GITEX 2023--which was held in November--and Sea World Abu Dhabi, which opened its doors earlier this year, were also widely searched.
In Egypt, users also searched for generative AI tools and high school graduation and university application protocols.
In Lebanon and Palestine, top search results revolved around Palestine, including Al-Qassam Brigades, Jenin Refugee Camp, the Palestine flag, Abu Obeida, and the boycott platform bdnaash.com.