Google has released its annual listings of the most searched terms of the year, which are the query keywords that saw the biggest spike in interest as compared to the previous year.
The yearly Google trend reports are an interesting way to refresh your memory as to all the things that happened throughout the year, while they also serve as insight into what people are most interested in - and potentially, what trends we might see evolve further in the year ahead.
First off, if you're looking for more specific search trends and notes - if you head to the main Google Trends 2018 listing, you can look at the overall, global trends (as above), or you can hone in on specific nations by changing the 'Global' setting to the region of your choice.
There's a heap of insight you can glean from the listings, but in addition, Google has also released more specific information on Movies:
TV Shows:
And sports teams:
(I'm guessing the Cleveland Cavaliers will be well down the list in 2019).
As noted, it's interesting to take a look through the trending lists and recall all the things that happened over the past 12 months, while the more specific trends could point to future marketing opportunities. You can even conduct your own Google Trends searches for brand related terms to see what's gaining the most traction, likely indicating what your audience will want to know more about in future.
Either way, it's an interesting overview of the year that was - which seems to have gone by very quick.