What Google searches reveal about the Scottish psyche
GOOGLE it. Two words that 20 years ago would have meant nothing to the vast majority of the public but today have entered into everyday use, synonymous with the quest for an answer. Answers about everything from the mundane, like train times and the weather, to the obscure and downright bizarre – just check the Google auto-suggestion when you type in the search term “is it healthy to” (the drop down menu points you towards “drink your own urine”).
“Google it” has even become a meme – used on social media when someone is being intentionally dumb.
Now Scotland’s top Google searches can be revealed – and they show us to be a nation with hugely varying tastes, obsessed with everything from free download pirate movies, Donald Trump, Pokemon Go to Netflix and, oddly, Newcastle Upon Tyne.
Google Trends is a section of the search engine’s website that allows users to analyse the most popular words and phrases Scots type in when they delve into the weird and wonderful world of the internet. The data gives a snapshot of the nation’s psyche and, over the last 12 months, searches for Donald Trump are up 300 per cent, making the US President the highest climber.
It is hardly surprising given how well Scotland trolled Trump during the US Presidential elections – “Yer maw was an immigrant, ya roaster” being a particular classic.
Results can be ranked by rising popularity or can grouped by topic, with the most popular topic in a year dominated by constitutional politics rather predictably “United Kingdom”.
Also among the top five by topic are the augmented reality game Pokemon Go, Scottish Premier League champions Celtic and Newcastle Upon Tyne. Why Geordies rank so high in the Scots’ imagination has yet to be unravelled, though the smart money is on the fact it’s a favourite stag and hen city for Scots from Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Queries for sporting events such as the Olympics and the European Football Championships were also highly ranked in the last year while searches about movie-streaming sites such as Netflix were increasingly dominant. However, sites which stream pirate movies – such as 123movies – are also charting high.
Digital expert Grant Gibson, deputy managing director of Glasgow-based content marketing agency Bright Signals, said: “The rise in Pokemon Go may not be surprising, but the fastest-rising term ‘123 movies’ is unexpected. Despite threats from the Government, ISPs and the industry, the fastest-rising query is for a site that streams pirated movies in full HD.”
When the results are analysed over the last 30 days the Grand National is hugely popular. This year’s race was won by Scottish-trained One For Arthur. Searches for the 2007 novel Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher also saw a surge after a US television adaptation was shown on Netflix recently.
Google’s complex algorithms also aggregate results to show the mostsearched subjects. Gibson added: “Search queries are the raw terms that people typed so Celtic would appear on a separate line from Celtic FC, Celtic Football Club, etc. Topics is a more intelligent list in that it lumps all related searches together. So searches for ‘Trump’, ‘Potus’, etc combined make him the fastest-rising topic.”
It seems that we Scots don’t care a damn about paying for a movie, love to rip into Trump, are obsessed with football and know our Pikachus from our Charizards (they are Pokemon characters, by the way). Given what could have come out on top – imagine the global mockery if it had been a deepfried Mars bars or Irn-Bru – it could have been much worse. The only worry is that, as we now know, everything we type into that little search window is recorded and filed away ... you have been warned.