Google launches top-search feature in cities for 2022 and in Detroit, it's 'gas prices'
No surprise, “gas prices” and “cheapest gas” topped Google’s near-me searches for Detroit this year, a likely indicator that money was on the minds of Michiganders as they faced inflation and quickly-rising costs and interest rates.
Gas prices yo-yoed this year, spiking nationally to new highs.
Other Detroit searches included "temp services" and "work from home jobs," as well as "concerts," "festivals," "comedy shows," and "happy hour." How else are you going to escape your financial woes? And if the economy is driving you to drink on a budget, you might as well seek a two-for-one deal.
Google, the digital search engine that can help you with hard-to-find answers, launched its feature, "Local Year in Search 2022," on Wednesday. It generates top-10 trending search lists for communities worldwide. You can try it by typing your city's name or ZIP code.
Why you need to know what others searched or why it matters, Google doesn't really answer. But it's one way to put idle fingers to work. It also can give you insights into what folks in a particular place were thinking about or looking for, and perhaps a competitive edge if you run a business.
"Every year, we look back at the moments, people, and trends that sparked our collective curiosity through Year in Search," Google's Data Editor Simon Rogers wrote. "Around the world, people sought to learn more about everything from complex global issues, to ways to help each other — not to mention the latest pop culture news."
The link to the feature is https://about.google/stories/local-year-in-search-2022/
You'll have to come up with your own analysis, or, if one exists online, you can Google it.
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The latest lists follow Google’s "Year in Search 2022" which was dominated by words like "Wordle," the popular five-letter guessing game owned by the New York Times, and "Ukraine," which has been fighting a Russian invasion earlier this year.
One search in the Detroit list that you might not have expected: Pilates. Perhaps people are hoping to find some low-impact exercises to tone up as the pandemic wanes? Or maybe it had something to do with the way Pilates instructor Bailey Brown summed up the trend on TikTok: "Pilates girls are hot."
The most searched music? Rap.
And the most searched recipe: BLT pasta salad.
If you are curious, you can take a look for yourself at what folks searched for in your hometown — or most anyone's hometown —for that matter, and draw your own conclusions and create your own conspiracy theories about what the results mean.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gas prices top Detroit's most searched things in 2022
