The corona crisis has a major impact on our online behavior, according to figures from Google and Marktplaats. ‘Coronavirus’ and ‘RIVM’ were the most frequently entered searches on Google, according to the overview Year in Search 2020. This was followed by ‘American elections’ and ‘Kobe Bryant’, the basketball legend who was killed in a helicopter crash.
In a press release, Google calls it no surprise that the corona virus leads the list in the Netherlands this year. The list provides an insight into what has occupied the Netherlands and the rest of the world in the past year.
Cooking
Worldwide, ‘coronavirus’ is also the trending search on Google. The Dutch also asked questions about the making of mouth masks, the closure of schools, the hoarding of toilet paper and the lockdown rules. Iced coffee and pancake recipes were looked up more than ever, an indication that we spent much of our time in the kitchen.
With Year in Search lists Google searches that have been used much more often than before. So it is not about the most popular searches.
Puzzle and camping
Trading site Marktplaats saw an increase of 9 million advertisements from the first lockdown until now compared to the same period last year. It also searched nearly 21 million times for free items; a significant increase from 8.5 million last year.
The stuff people hoped to find was different this year from previous years. Many people were looking for furniture and office furnishings to work from home. In the summer, the search was mainly for outdoor toys, boats and camping products. During the autumn holidays, game consoles, puzzles and games were especially popular, because families had to enjoy themselves at home.