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 October 2021.
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+. 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.
What Did We See In October 2021
Examining the queries we collected from last month, we see the month had an inauspicious start with a few important websites and services having outages. News about Facebook bookend the month with the Frances Haugen report released during the first week and the corporate rename happening in the last week. People searched for information about holidays and the latest cryptocurrency along with the latest movies and TV shows. Lastly, the NFL and Major League Baseball drove a lot of interest in their teams, so we’ll explore what are the most popular ones. Here’s our take on the top search activity of October 2021.
Top Queried Phrases of the Month
There were three phrases that topped the upper limit of reported query volume. Two of them were attached to Google Doodles and sadly one was attached to a tragedy on a film set.
- Alec Baldwin – 10/21/2021 – 10,000,000+ queries
- Claude Cahun – 10/24/2021 – 10,000,000+ queries
- Day of the Dead – 10/31/2021 – 10,000,000+ queries
The shock of the incident on the Rust movie set involving actor Alec Baldwin drove a large number of queries on the 21st. The updated Google logo (Doodle) created for French photographer Claude Cahun and the Day of the Dead holiday stoked clicks for queries, which made them the top searched queries of their respective days. The Doodle counting discrepancy that we covered in the September 2021 article seems to have cleared up.
The Holidays
Holidays tend to be big query drivers. From shopping deals to what’s open, people need to know information about these special days.
- Columbus Day – 10/10/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Halloween – 10/30/2021 – 5,000,000+ queries
With Columbus Day making the daily top 3, we conducted a comparison with the holiday that is taking its place.
It appears that Indigenous Peoples’ Day still has some ways to go in terms of search popularity.
Also, it was reported that spending on Halloween this year was record breaking. We pulled the chart from Google Trends to see if that report translated into more query volume.
According to Google Trends, keywords related to the celebration of Halloween 2021 were queried more than last year but it was not the biggest year ever. That award goes to Halloween 2006!
People Love Movies, TV Shows, and Movie Trailers Too
We find that people want to know more about entertainment. Now, it’s been widely reported that “Squid Game” is being searched for in large volumes, especially in the month of October 2021. Curiously, it never made the daily top 3 of Google Trends. Here are the TV shows and movies that did last month.
- The Many Saints of Newark – 10/1/2021 – 1,000,000+ queries
- The Guilty – 10/1/2021 – 200,000+ queries
- Halloween Kills – 10/14/2021 – 1,000,000+ queries
- You Season 3 – 10/15/2021 – 500,000+ queries
- Dune – 10/21/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
The above list all had anticipated release dates. We believe that having this element tied to your film or TV show is what gets your title into the daily top 3. Squid Game has more of a slow burn as people learn more about it. The search interest is large but just spread out.
Anticipation certainly drives people to search for official movie trailers. Take a look at the two that made the cut in October 2021:
- The Batman – 10/16/2021 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Lightyear – 10/27/2021 – 500,000+ queries
Does search interest in a film’s trailer equate to future financial success? Possibly.
Outages and Hacks
As stated in the summary above, the month started off ominously as major websites and services had their troubles.
- Bank of America – 10/1/2021 – 500,000+ queries
- WhatsApp – 10/4/2021 – 500,000+ queries
- Twitch – 10/6/2021 – 500,000+ queries
BoA’s site had a major outage on the 1st as did WhatsApp on the 4th, along with all of Facebook’s properties. There was a report of a hack on Twitch on the 6th that drove people to learn more about it.
The Searches For Shiba Inu Coin
Powered by rumors of a decentralized exchange and a tweet by Elon Musk, the search volume behind this cryptocurrency made the daily Top 3 twice last month.
- Shiba Inu coin – 10/23/2021 – 500,000+ queries
- Shiba Inu coin – 10/27/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
As we have learned throughout this year, meme stocks and coins drive search interest. Someday, there will be a case study on how word of these financial assets gets spread.
How Was Your October, Facebook?
Sorry, we meant Meta. Here are the two phrases that made our list last month.
- Facebook whistleblower – 10/4/2021 – 1,000,000+ queries
- Meta – 10/28/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
These two keywords along with outages that happened on the 4th made for an eventful month for the social media giant. Time will tell of the lasting effect it had on the organization.
2 Million Queries or More for Sports
October, with the Major League Baseball playoffs and the NFL regular season in full swing, stirs up a lot of search volume for sports. Noting that 62% of the phrases we collected last month were related to sports, we decided to focus on the top searched phrases.
Baseball team names get queried a lot. Let’s take a look at which ones got searched the most.
- Yankees – 10/5/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Dodgers – 10/6/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Dodgers – 10/14/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Red Sox – 10/15/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Braves – 10/23/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- World Series – 10/26/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- World Series – 10/29/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
Along with the team names, the World Series got attention this year. Conspicuously absent from this list is the Astros. We guess they aren’t as popular as the other playoff teams.
Moving on to the NFL, here are all the team names that also made the 2 million or more query list:
- Patriots – 10/3/2021 – 5,000,000+ queries
- Dallas Cowboys – 10/3/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Raiders – 10/4/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Seahawks – 10/7/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Chiefs – 10/10/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Ravens – 10/11/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 10/14/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Steelers – 10/17/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Buffalo Bills – 10/18/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Browns – 10/21/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Seahawks – 10/25/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Packers – 10/27/2021 – 2,000,000+ queries
- Dallas Cowboys – 10/31/2021 – 5,000,000+ queries
Did your favorite team make the list? The dates on which these queries occurred align with when the teams played. When there’s an event to know more about, acute surges in queries happen.
Thanks for reading. If you liked this article, we utilize search trends data for all of our clients and we invite you to learn more about our SEO services.
Until next month.
