Google Trends data insights paint a unique picture of humanity — and as 2022 came to a close, we began to think of ways to communicate this data to the public on a personal, local level. We knew we could segment trending Google Search queries into day-to-day categories — “food,” “activities,” and “music” for example — so we tasked our data, creative, and development teams with the mission of presenting our insights in an engaging and immersive way. A successful delivery would mean giving our US audience a new lens through which to see their region and the country, as well as an understanding of the fascinating truths that Google technology can offer.

Data is the backbone of the Google Local Year in Search experience — it is, after all, a website built for visitors to navigate Google Trends Data insights in their region and the country. The insights were derived from top-searched queries for each region (with the help of custom-built software) and helped make the experience feel more special.

To cater to users with a more exploratory mindset, we used the Google Maps API to present all regions on a map of the U.S. (we also built a machine-learning algorithm to select an emoji for each region’s pin, based on that region’s top-trending “near me” query).

Lastly, we created connections between regions whose insights overlap — Bozeman, ID and Billings, MT, for example, were one of only 2 places that had chinese buffet as a top trending “near me” search — so we hyperlinked them to one another.

The appeal of the Local Year in Search experience lies in its ability to connect with the audience on a personal level while maintaining sacrosanct privacy. Our initial data pull revealed interesting information about regions across the US — like their most popular music genres and most searched recipes — but we recognized we’d need to push further to cause the impact we desired.

We collaborated with our developers and content strategists to write software that compared each of the region's top searched lists and search interest to produce unique insights. Our team could now state that San Francisco searched for Indian buffets more than anywhere in the country, while Amarillo, Texas, is the number #1 place in the U.S. searching for “supplement stores near me.”

We know top 10 lists have a power of their own, too, so each region’s page is capped with its top-trending “near me” searches.

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The film received over 295M YouTube views (our most ever) with over 7.5M hours of watch time, and an 75% average percent viewed. In controlled brand lift testing, +34% increase in Gen Pop agreement that "Google is a brand that shares my values."

Paid social assets had over 69.2M video views and 169M impressions on SnapChat and Instagram, and the AR filters had 18.9M impressions on SnapChat, with share and save rates above benchmark (2.2% share rate vs. 1.2% benchmark; .5% save rate vs. .2% benchmark, respectively). On TikTok, the filter had 374K effect plays with a 22 second average play time.

Our influencer partners received 308M impressions and 1.8M engagements on TikTok, with 142M impressions and 14.4M views on YouTube.

The local Trends experience received over 1.1M visit, with 60% of users spending more than 30 seconds exploring the experience.