To mark Google Trends’ 15th Anniversary, Google released data on the top search queries by Kenyans in the past 15 years.
In a statement to the press, the search engine company outlined that it had compiled a list of top searches across diverse topics based on Google Trends charts.
“Top searches are about what topped Google’s charts. The ‘most searched’ queries are the most popular terms (in this case, for the past 15 years), ranked in order by volume of searches across various regions and languages.
“Google Trends website analyses the popularity of search queries in Google Search and uses graphs to compare search volumes of different queries over time,” the company outlined.
According to the brief from Google, the top six most searched personalities in Kenya were all politicians.
President Uhuru Kenyatta topped the list with former Prime Minister coming in second and Deputy President William Ruto taking the number three position.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, DP William Ruto and Raila Odinga at Bomas
Canada-based lawyer Miguna Miguna was the fourth on the list followed by former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and controversial Embakasi East MP Babu Owino concluding the list of politicians.
The top 10 list published by Google was as follows:-
Uhuru Kenyatta
Raila Odinga
William Ruto
Miguna Miguna
Mike Sonko
Babu Owino
Betty Kyalo
Bob Collymore
Kanze Dena
Jeff Koinange
State House Spokesperson Kanze Dena-Mararo
Local Institutions top searches on Google
The report also compiled a list of the top searched Local Institutions for the past 15 years in Kenya.
A majority of the institutions were universities with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Teachers Service Commission and Stima Sacco featuring at position 4, 7 and 10 respectively.
Kenyatta University
University of Nairobi
Moi University
Kenya Revenue Authority
Maseno University
Mount Kenya University
Teachers Service Commission
Strathmore University
Egerton University
Stima Sacco
Queries on food, relationships and professional tips have dominated searches under the questions category for the last 15 years.
The top searched questions in Kenya were listed as follows:-
How to make love
How to kiss
How to write a CV
What is love
How to make money online
How to fuliza
How to cook pilau
What is my IP
How to bake a cake
How to write an application letter
Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during a developers conference.
“The data released reveals that Kenyans’ love for football has remained consistent throughout the 15 years, with many closely following the English Premier League and the Fantasy Premier League,making them the first and the fifth top most searched item in the general category.
“Other football searches include Champions League, Europa League, La Liga and Serie A. Local soccer giants Gor Mahia, AFC Leopards, and Harambee Stars also made it to the top ten list in the sports category,” the report from Google outlined.