In our continuing series of examining Google Search Trends to gain insights into the top keywords queried in the USA, we present our findings for December 2023.
Every day, we capture the top three keyword phrases in terms of search volume as reported by Google Trends (US Only). Each term has an estimated query volume attached to it, which we also record. The number scale tops out at 10,000,000+ with a lower limit of 200,000+ (sometimes 100,000+). After the conclusion of the month, we look at the phrases we collected along with their volumes to get an understanding of what drove queries for the month.
Bringing a Close to 2023
All good things must come to an end and so do our Google Trends posts for the year of 2023. We collected some interesting keywords from last month from most days. There was one day in December where Google’s Daily Trends interface seemed to stop working so we’ll examine what day it was and what happened. We gathered keywords that gave us insights into what people were watching on their screens. Of course, holidays were a big subject last month. The world of Gaming had a couple of topics that drove people to search and we had a good accumulation of sports-related keywords from all 4 major sports. Let’s get to it.
What Happened on December 8?
Typically, we see 20 phrases reported for each day in Google’s Daily Trends. On the 8th, we only saw one. Just one.
- Ryan O’Neal – 12/8/2023 – 200,000+ queries
Actor Ryan O’Neal passed away on the 8th and his name was the only keyword reported by Google on that day. We only collect the top 3 phrases for any day so we only had to do a third of the work for the 8th. We have seen Google’s reporting interface glitch before. It’s worth noting that we were unable to get the full understanding of queries from the day last month.
Festive Holidays From Last Month
They say the holidays are what make December great. Let’s see what holidays were searched for last month.
- Winter solstice 2023 – 12/20/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- New Year’s Day – 12/31/2023 – 5,000,000+ queries
It’s interesting that the first day of Winter was a popular search keyword. We are not sure if the day is celebrated or if people wanted to know what exact day the season would start.
When it came to tracking Santa, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) had updated its tracker for 2023.
- NORAD Santa Tracker – 12/23/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
Looking back at the last 5 years, the update did not increase the query volume more than the tracker had in 2019. The volume was still high enough to make our report for December 2023.
The Season’s Must-Sees
We enjoy looking through the names of the shows and movies that people search for the most. Here’s the list of what people wanted to watch in December 2023.
- Dancing With the Stars – 12/5/2023 – 100,000+ queries
- Leave the World Behind – 12/9/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Reacher Season 2 – 12/14/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- Leonard Bernstein – 12/20/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- Rebel Moon – 12/21/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- A Christmas story – 12/24/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- The Color Purple – 12/25/2023 – 200,000+ queries
Dancing With The Stars Season 32 held its grand finale on the 5th. The film Leave The World Behind was released on Netflix and the second season of Reacher was released on Amazon Prime Video on the 15th. The film Maestro was released on Netflix on the 20th, which led people to search for Leonard Bernstein. On the 22nd, Netflix released Rebel Moon after a limited theatrical release. A Christmas Story film marathon was shown on TNT starting on Christmas Eve and the musical version of The Color Purple was released on December 25th.
A Couple of Gaming Keywords
When a big game trailer drops, you know people want to see more.
- GTA 6 trailer – 12/4/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Game Awards 2023 – 12/7/2023 – 200,000+ queries
The sixth installment of the Grand Theft Auto game franchise is coming in 2025 and a trailer for the game was released last month. Also, the Game Awards were held in December 2023 and it’s the first time we have seen the awards show name make the Daily Top 3.
Looking at the last 5 years, the award show drove more search volume in 2022, but in 2023 it made our prestigious report.
Are You Feeling Lucky Again?
The Powerball jackpot must have been big last month because we saw queries related to the drawing towards the end of December.
- Powerball numbers – 12/26/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- Powerball numbers – 12/30/2023 – 200,000+ queries
Usually we start to see these queries when the jackpot has reached $1 billion. With a jackpot only in the hundred of millions of dollars, we think people were hoping to win some big money to pay back their holiday spending.
MLB Hot Stove
Major League Baseball made our list as players signed with new teams.
- Juan Soto – 12/6/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- Shohei Ohtani – 12/9/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
Juan Soto joined the New York Yankees and Shoheo Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Ohtani contract was the size of the Powerball jackpot.
NBA Player Names
The names of a few NBA players made our list. Some for good reasons and some for not so good reasons.
- Draymond Green – 12/12/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Giannis Antetokounmpo – 12/13/2023 – 200,000+ queries
- Ja Morant – 12/19/2023 – 200,000+ queries
Draymond Green got suspended from the NBA after an altercation last month. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a franchise-record 64 points on the 13th, and Ja Morant returned to play his first game after his suspension on the 19th. He even hit the game winning shot.
Early and Late December College Football
It was a tale of two halves. We saw some interest in games and rankings at the beginning of the month.
- Alabama vs Georgia – 12/1/2023 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Oregon vs Washington – 12/1/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Florida State Football – 12/2/2023 – 2,000,000+ queries
- CFP Rankings – 12/2/2023 – 200,000+ queries
Then, at the end of month, people wanted to know about the Bowl games.
- Georgia football – 12/29/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Ohio State football – 12/29/2023 – 500,000+ queries
- Penn State football – 12/29/2023 – 200,000+ queries
We should see some College Football queries at the beginning of next month as the Championship game was held on January 8th.
The Most Popular League
As the regular season started to wind down, the queries for the NFL picked up. Here’s the rundown of keywords related to the National Football League.
- 49ers – 12/3/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Packers – 12/3/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Trevor Lawrence – 12/4/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Cowboys – 12/10/2023 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Raiders – 12/14/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Detroit Lions – 12/16/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Bills – 12/23/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- 49ers – 12/25/2023 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Chiefs – 12/25/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Browns – 12/28/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Cowboys – 12/30/2023 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Chiefs – 12/31/2023 – 1,000,000+ queries
As the month came to an end, the playoff picture was set. We can’t wait to see how the queries unfold in January.
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