What Did Indians Search for in 2017?

It is always good to know what people are searching on Google and other portals. For the SEO professional it is crucial to understand trends and what is popular. It helps in understanding what works and what does not. Knowing the past trends also helps in predicting the future trends. Indians have taken to the internet as fish to water. In our country the internet usage is increasing gradually but surely. Day by day, more and more Indians are joining the internet as they hear about its popularity.

According to some SEO analytical reports, by the beginning of the next decade more than half of India’s population would be accessing the internet. And they would be doing it not only on PCs, but also on smartphones, tablets, laptops and future mobile devices. Ask anybody what is their favorite search engine and they would reply Google. Yes, Google has been the primary search engine for searching anything on the wide web. Bing and Yahoo are also been used but their usage is not considerable. People joke that they only use these websites when Google is down for some reasons.

So somebody who is interested in SEO would ask what did Indians search for in 2017? What caught their fancy? It would be an interesting read to know what goes in the minds of our country people. Let us find out some of the top searches which were revealed by analysts:

1) Bollywood

This is an all time favourite. Indians can never get enough of Bollywood. I am sure everybody must have heard of this Indian movie industry. If somebody has not heard either he or she must have been in a coma for long time or must have been living a hermit life in the jungle. But jokes apart, Bollywood is serious movie business. Their movies are not only famous in India, but internationally also. People can never get tired of this glamour world. There are several websites based primarily on Bollywood and are doing good from the SEO perspective.

2) Cricket

This is the nation’s most adored sport. And therefore one of the top Google searches of 2017. Why are people so passionate for this game of bat and ball? Why is cricket the favourite sport of India? We will try to deal with these questions later in a different article. But it definitely satisfies the SEO enthusiast’s query that cricket and sports were the top search terms in 2017.

3) GST

Post-demonetisation our country had to face another new major change in the form of GST. People were curious what it was and how it would affect them. It was a big change in the taxation field and affected both consumers and businessmen. The first point of getting any answers was Google. SEO analysts saw a spike in Google searches for this term.

4) Bitcoins

Another term which caught the attention of Indian netizens in 2017 was the word Bitcoins. This cryptocurrency ruled the roost on Google for sometime because of its high valuations. People wanted to know all about Bitcoins and how to trade and invest in them. As SEO experts, we have to realize that we Indians are always interested in money making activities and do not ignore other avenues of earning some extra money.

5) Aadhaar and Pan cards

One of the trends SEO analysis revealed was to do with Aadhaar cards. With the government directive to link Aadhaar and Pan cards, many Indians were interested in knowing how to go about it. With the deadline drawing near many people wanted to know ‘how to link Aadhaar with PAN card’ and ‘how to link Aadhaar with mobile number’. As Aadhaar is slowly becoming mandatory in all sectors of our lives, it will continue to draw attention on search engines at least for the coming future.

6) Miss World Beauty Pageant

Our score in the Olympics may not be much, but we Indians surely have a good reputation in the Miss World contests. First it was Aishwarya Rai, Diana Hayden and Yukta Mookhey to name a few Indian Miss World winners. And the recent winner Manushi Chhillar not only charmed the international world but also captivated the hearts of Indians. This was apparent by the Google searches in India for Manushi Chhillar in an effort to know more about her.

Though these top searches which are annually released may or may not relate to your industry, it is always better to keep our ears and eyes open. The SEO expert is always expected to pick up clues and indications of what is happening in his or her sphere of interests. There will always be such trends in the future, some temporary, while some lasting for a longer time.