We’ve just uploaded fresh data from December into Keywords Explorer—our monstrous keywords database—and naturally, we wanted to know which Google searches were most popular this month.
We have pulled two lists for the United States:
- Top100 most searched keywords in the US—a list of terms with the highest average monthly search volume as of today;
- Top100 new keywords in the US in December—a list of the most popular search queries that we haven’t seen up until December.
And then we also pulled these “best new keywords in December” across all countries in our database, which turned out quite interesting as well.
So here you go:
Top 100 Google search queries in the US (in December 2018)
Unsurprisingly, this list is almost entirely dominated by branded searches. But we have decided to leave the list as is so that you could see the full picture.
| # | Keyword | Search Volume | Return Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 235,800,000 | 11.25 | |
| 2 | youtube | 193,200,000 | 6.47 |
| 3 | amazon | 102,100,000 | 4.41 |
| 4 | gmail | 90,340,000 | 5.59 |
| 5 | 83,950,000 | 4.33 | |
| 6 | ebay | 58,350,000 | 4.66 |
| 7 | yahoo | 56,580,000 | 8.2 |
| 8 | craigslist | 53,010,000 | 4.44 |
| 9 | weather | 51,360,000 | 5.02 |
| 10 | yahoo mail | 51,270,000 | 6.5 |
| 11 | google maps | 41,040,000 | 3.74 |
| 12 | netflix | 38,640,000 | 3.41 |
| 13 | walmart | 38,450,000 | 2.66 |
| 14 | google translate | 36,350,000 | 5.23 |
| 15 | google docs | 28,090,000 | 5.01 |
| 16 | news | 27,380,000 | 9.16 |
| 17 | translate | 25,330,000 | 5.14 |
| 18 | facebook login | 25,070,000 | 6.03 |
| 19 | home depot | 24,650,000 | 2.6 |
| 20 | cnn | 24,440,000 | 6.95 |
| 21 | hotmail | 23,790,000 | 6.05 |
| 22 | fox news | 22,670,000 | 8.3 |
| 23 | google drive | 21,570,000 | 4.09 |
| 24 | calculator | 21,280,000 | 4.63 |
| 25 | maps | 20,440,000 | 3.25 |
| 26 | msn | 20,080,000 | 12.07 |
| 27 | usps tracking | 19,170,000 | 3.27 |
| 28 | google classroom | 17,940,000 | 4.69 |
| 29 | lowes | 17,700,000 | 2.55 |
| 30 | target | 16,970,000 | 2.22 |
| 31 | paypal | 16,850,000 | 2.47 |
| 32 | espn | 16,310,000 | 5.8 |
| 33 | bank of america | 16,270,000 | 4.11 |
| 34 | entertainment | 16,210,000 | 5.1 |
| 35 | 16,200,000 | 2.43 | |
| 36 | aol mail | 16,110,000 | 10.32 |
| 37 | wells fargo | 15,350,000 | 4.18 |
| 38 | 14,890,000 | 2.98 | |
| 39 | zillow | 14,310,000 | 2.69 |
| 40 | 13,950,000 | 3.16 | |
| 41 | best buy | 13,900,000 | 1.96 |
| 42 | you tube | 13,810,000 | 4.71 |
| 43 | speed test | 13,390,000 | 2.81 |
| 44 | indeed | 13,280,000 | 3.33 |
| 45 | trump | 12,950,000 | 9.81 |
| 46 | roblox | 12,840,000 | 4.72 |
| 47 | 12,400,000 | 2.64 | |
| 48 | sports | 12,270,000 | 3.77 |
| 49 | youtube to mp3 | 12,000,000 | 3.57 |
| 50 | amazon prime | 10,960,000 | 2.47 |
| 51 | aol | 10,860,000 | 10.44 |
| 52 | chase | 10,460,000 | 3.98 |
| 53 | capital one | 10,270,000 | 3.08 |
| 54 | costco | 10,170,000 | 2.22 |
| 55 | ups tracking | 10,150,000 | 2.45 |
| 56 | pandora | 10,070,000 | 2.67 |
| 57 | kohls | 9,850,000 | 2.42 |
| 58 | 9,800,000 | 3.83 | |
| 59 | nba | 9,700,000 | 8.92 |
| 60 | bing | 9,440,000 | 5.57 |
| 61 | traductor | 9,320,000 | 7.48 |
| 62 | hulu | 9,140,000 | 2.23 |
| 63 | finance | 8,970,000 | 13.4 |
| 64 | nfl | 8,720,000 | 5.8 |
| 65 | american airlines | 8,630,000 | 2.27 |
| 66 | usps | 8,470,000 | 2.13 |
| 67 | etsy | 8,320,000 | 2.52 |
| 68 | pizza hut | 8,160,000 | 1.9 |
| 69 | fb | 8,150,000 | 12.04 |
| 70 | twitch | 7,870,000 | 2.99 |
| 71 | airbnb | 7,860,000 | 2.09 |
| 72 | macys | 7,820,000 | 2.55 |
| 73 | 123movies | 7,730,000 | 3.54 |
| 74 | dominos | 7,590,000 | 1.96 |
| 75 | spotify | 7,520,000 | 1.72 |
| 76 | google flights | 7,380,000 | 3.94 |
| 77 | google scholar | 7,350,000 | 4.27 |
| 78 | expedia | 7,330,000 | 2.34 |
| 79 | wells fargo login | 7,240,000 | 3.96 |
| 80 | verizon | 7,020,000 | 1.94 |
| 81 | fedex tracking | 6,790,000 | 2.4 |
| 82 | you | 6,770,000 | 2.34 |
| 83 | united airlines | 6,670,000 | 2.02 |
| 84 | google news | 6,530,000 | 8.08 |
| 85 | bed bath and beyond | 6,520,000 | 1.82 |
| 86 | discord | 6,190,000 | 2.24 |
| 87 | outlook | 6,180,000 | 2.89 |
| 88 | walgreens | 6,120,000 | 1.82 |
| 89 | mapquest | 6,070,000 | 2.3 |
| 90 | gamestop | 6,020,000 | 2.07 |
| 91 | restaurants near me | 5,970,000 | 2.07 |
| 92 | facebook log in | 5,940,000 | 4.48 |
| 93 | pof | 5,930,000 | 9.64 |
| 94 | nfl scores | 5,880,000 | 5.83 |
| 95 | southwest | 5,860,000 | 2.17 |
| 96 | credit karma | 5,820,000 | 2.15 |
| 97 | tumblr | 5,800,000 | 3.27 |
| 98 | xfinity | 5,790,000 | 2.36 |
| 99 | solitaire | 5,780,000 | 11.15 |
| 100 | groupon | 5,770,000 | 1.89 |
Before we move on to the next list of trending keywords, it’s important to understand the keyword metrics that we display.
Search volume
Search volume shows how many times a given keyword is being entered into Google per month. And, because the search demand on many keywords tends to fluctuate from month to month, the number that we give you is an annual average.
Return Rate
Return Rate shows how often a person will search for that keyword again. It is a relative metric, so RR 3.55 doesn’t mean that people perform the same search 3–4 times a month on average.
But Return Rate is very useful when comparing two keywords.
For example, the keyword “spotify” has RR 1.72, which means that people rarely search for that keyword again. (Probably because they were just looking to download this app or learn what it is.)
On the other hand, “facebook” has RR 11.25, which means that people search for it quite frequently. (Probably because many people don’t have Facebook on their bookmarks bar, and simply Google it each time they want to access it.)
Learn more about search volume & Return Rate here.
Top 100 NEW Google searches in the US (in December 2018)
This list is much more interesting because it shows things that people in the US have started to care about in December all of a sudden.
| # | Keyword | Search Volume |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | kelsey berreth | 26,000 |
| 2 | far cry new dawn | 18,000 |
| 3 | mattis resignation letter | 12,000 |
| 4 | bird box memes | 12,000 |
| 5 | the game awards 2018 nominees and winners | 11,000 |
| 6 | summer bunni | 10,000 |
| 7 | anna lushchinskaya | 10,000 |
| 8 | wall go fund me | 9,100 |
| 9 | baby its cold outside ban | 7,700 |
| 10 | bandersnatch endings | 6,600 |
| 11 | search between 3 ski lodges | 6,500 |
| 12 | search between three ski lodges | 6,000 |
| 13 | breana rouhselang | 5,900 |
| 14 | president bush funeral | 5,500 |
| 15 | bird box meme | 5,400 |
| 16 | destiny 2 dawning recipes | 5,400 |
| 17 | port orchard tornado | 5,300 |
| 18 | dance on top of a crown of rvs | 5,300 |
| 19 | andreas hvid | 5,200 |
| 20 | dawning recipes | 5,200 |
| 21 | ronil singh | 5,200 |
| 22 | we the people will fund the wall | 5,100 |
| 23 | destiny 2 recipes | 4,800 |
| 24 | ramsey bearse nude | 4,800 |
| 25 | winter storm diego | 4,800 |
| 26 | babi christina engelhardt | 4,600 |
| 27 | my ps4 life | 4,500 |
| 28 | mib international | 4,500 |
| 29 | crown of rvs | 4,200 |
| 30 | maren ueland | 4,100 |
| 31 | baby its cold outside offensive | 4,100 |
| 32 | alabama vs oklahoma orange bowl | 3,900 |
| 33 | grace millane | 3,600 |
| 34 | 14 days of fortnite | 3,600 |
| 35 | search waterside goose nests | 3,500 |
| 36 | stand up to harvard | 3,500 |
| 37 | goblin slayer episode 11 | 3,500 |
| 38 | waterside goose nests | 3,300 |
| 39 | k.g.f: chapter 1 | 3,300 |
| 40 | sarah papenheim | 3,200 |
| 41 | forbidden locations season 7 | 3,200 |
| 42 | declan howell | 3,200 |
| 43 | dance on top of a submarine | 3,200 |
| 44 | dance on top of a metal turtle | 3,200 |
| 45 | imagine ariana grande | 3,200 |
| 46 | the outer worlds release date | 3,100 |
| 47 | kfc fire log | 3,000 |
| 48 | souljagame | 3,000 |
| 49 | trump wall fundraiser | 3,000 |
| 50 | california text tax | 2,800 |
| 51 | atlas game wiki | 2,800 |
| 52 | margaret gieszinger | 2,800 |
| 53 | 14 days of fortnite rewards | 2,800 |
| 54 | eva’s holiday oven recipes | 2,800 |
| 55 | robinhood checking | 2,800 |
| 56 | flynn sentencing memo | 2,800 |
| 57 | destiny 2 cookie recipes | 2,700 |
| 58 | bandersnatch review | 2,700 |
| 59 | soulja game | 2,700 |
| 60 | tiponi grey | 2,700 |
| 61 | one piece 929 | 2,700 |
| 62 | alan maloney referee | 2,700 |
| 63 | grapeshot games | 2,600 |
| 64 | maegan tapley | 2,600 |
| 65 | claas relotius | 2,500 |
| 66 | bush funeral train | 2,500 |
| 67 | elizabeth lecron | 2,500 |
| 68 | gofannon forge | 2,400 |
| 69 | rwby volume 6 episode 9 | 2,400 |
| 70 | atlas game map | 2,400 |
| 71 | chris burrous death | 2,400 |
| 72 | rwby volume 6 episode 7 | 2,400 |
| 73 | aquaman post credits | 2,400 |
| 74 | izanami forge | 2,400 |
| 75 | soulja watch | 2,400 |
| 76 | planetside arena | 2,400 |
| 77 | huawei arrest | 2,400 |
| 78 | fortnite season 7 week 1 challenges | 2,300 |
| 79 | louisa vesterager jespersen | 2,300 |
| 80 | ou alabama 2018 | 2,300 |
| 81 | titan residuum | 2,300 |
| 82 | ramsey carpenter bearse | 2,300 |
| 83 | aquaman show time | 2,300 |
| 84 | chocolate ship cookies destiny 2 | 2,300 |
| 85 | black mirror: bandersnatch | 2,200 |
| 86 | epic games subnautica | 2,200 |
| 87 | jazmine headley | 2,200 |
| 88 | texans vs jets | 2,200 |
| 89 | miley cyrus santa baby | 2,200 |
| 90 | aquaman after credits | 2,200 |
| 91 | soulja boy nintendo | 2,200 |
| 92 | lynita stuart | 2,200 |
| 93 | happy new year 2019 images hd | 2,200 |
| 94 | big chungus ps4 | 2,200 |
| 95 | bush train | 2,200 |
| 96 | goblin slayer episode 10 | 2,100 |
| 97 | csgo danger zone | 2,100 |
| 98 | siviks delivery note | 2,100 |
| 99 | kyler murray tweets | 2,100 |
| 100 | skater xl | 2,100 |
What’s interesting, is that some of these new keywords had a big spike in search demand and then faded to nothing quite fast. While others seem to have a continuous search demand, that shows no signs of fading.
“kelsey berreth” vs “president bush funeral” are two great examples:
I didn’t include Return Rate this time, because the vast majority of these Google searches were very close to 1.
But I included Keyword Difficulty metric, which is super low for almost all keywords in this list (since they’re brand new).
Keyword Difficulty
Keyword Difficulty score shows how hard it would be to rank in top10 search results for a given keyword (learn more here). It is based on the size and quality of the pages that already rank there.
Given that KD scores for most of these keywords are so low, I wonder if this very article will rank for some of them?
And that’s it for the US.
Let’s look at what bothered people around the World in December.
Top NEW Google searches around the World (in December 2018)
I know Ahrefs has a ton of customers from all around the world, and hopefully, everyone will find a fun keyword from their country in this list.
| # | Keyword | Search Volume | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | le feste di dicembre nel mondo | 206,000 | it |
| 2 | 大晦日 2018 | 88,000 | jp |
| 3 | c’est quand le solstice d’hiver ? | 64,000 | fr |
| 4 | teresa carre‘ño | 60,000 | es |
| 5 | lo sciame meteorico delle geminidi | 35,000 | it |
| 6 | teresa carre‘ño | 29,000 | ar |
| 7 | tamilrockers.tel | 27,000 | in |
| 8 | ตรวจหวย1ธันวาคม2561 | 27,000 | th |
| 9 | kelsey berreth | 26,000 | us |
| 10 | 平成最後の日は | 25,000 | jp |
| 11 | lluvia de estrellas gemínidas 2018 | 22,000 | es |
| 12 | 高輪ゲートウェイ | 21,000 | jp |
| 13 | 元日 2019 | 20,000 | jp |
| 14 | باية محي الدين | 18,000 | eg |
| 15 | far cry new dawn | 18,000 | us |
| 16 | 2018 연말 | 16,000 | kr |
| 17 | lluvia de meteoros de las gemínidas | 16,000 | ar |
| 18 | holdirdeingeschenk | 15,000 | de |
| 19 | ロマサガリユニバース攻略 | 14,000 | jp |
| 20 | grace millane | 14,000 | gb |
| 21 | baba amte | 14,000 | vn |
| 22 | grace millane | 14,000 | nz |
| 23 | باية محي الدين | 14,000 | sa |
| 24 | kgf collection | 12,000 | in |
| 25 | joulukuun juhla | 12,000 | fi |
| 26 | teresa carre‘ño | 12,000 | ve |
| 27 | simba movie review | 12,000 | in |
| 28 | mattis resignation letter | 12,000 | us |
| 29 | bird box memes | 12,000 | us |
| 30 | cherif chekatt | 11,000 | fr |
| 31 | the game awards 2018 nominees and winners | 11,000 | us |
| 32 | ראש השנה האזרחי 2019 | 11,000 | il |
| 33 | teresa carre‘ño | 11,000 | cl |
| 34 | 節日 慶祝活動 | 11,000 | tw |
| 35 | feliz véspera de ano novo! | 11,000 | pt |
| 36 | vali.ge | 11,000 | ge |
| 37 | teresa carre‘ño | 10,000 | pe |
| 38 | summer bunni | 10,000 | us |
| 39 | anna lushchinskaya | 10,000 | us |
| 40 | טרסה קארניו | 10,000 | il |
| 41 | lluvia de meteoros de las gemínidas | 9,600 | co |
| 42 | simmba review | 9,500 | in |
| 43 | ブラック企業マップ | 9,300 | jp |
| 44 | yeni yıl mesajları 2019 | 9,200 | tr |
| 45 | wall go fund me | 9,100 | us |
| 46 | antonio megalizzi | 9,100 | it |
| 47 | ロマサガリユニバース リセマラ | 9,000 | jp |
| 48 | stefanie tücking todesursache | 9,000 | de |
| 49 | 새해 2019 | 8,500 | kr |
| 50 | global december fejring! | 8,500 | dk |
| 51 | telangana elections results | 8,300 | in |
| 52 | hakan muhafız 1. bölüm | 8,200 | tr |
| 53 | danish zehen death | 8,200 | in |
| 54 | joaquin montes | 8,100 | ph |
| 55 | holdirdeingeschenck de | 7,900 | de |
| 56 | sir douglas nicholls | 7,900 | nz |
| 57 | festas felizes! | 7,900 | pt |
| 58 | mira como nos ponemos | 7,700 | ar |
| 59 | baby its cold outside ban | 7,700 | us |
| 60 | cb01 rock | 7,600 | it |
| 61 | باية محي الدين | 7,500 | iq |
| 62 | new years honours list 2019 | 7,400 | gb |
| 63 | holdirdeingeschenk.de | 7,300 | de |
| 64 | apaharan web series | 7,300 | in |
| 65 | bird box a ciegas | 7,300 | mx |
| 66 | relotius | 7,100 | de |
| 67 | キュアアンフィニ | 7,100 | jp |
| 68 | niacl ao recruitment 2019 | 6,900 | in |
| 69 | la vecchia signora in grigio | 6,800 | it |
| 70 | 80. výročie rýchlych šípov | 6,700 | sk |
| 71 | bandersnatch endings | 6,600 | us |
| 72 | mega sena 2105 | 6,600 | br |
| 73 | search between 3 ski lodges | 6,500 | us |
| 74 | とろサーモン久保田炎上 | 6,400 | jp |
| 75 | lluvia de meteoros de las gemínidas | 6,200 | cl |
| 76 | holdirdeingeschenk de kaufland | 6,200 | de |
| 77 | tsunami anyer | 6,100 | id |
| 78 | felicitaciones de año nuevo 2019 | 6,000 | es |
| 79 | search between three ski lodges | 6,000 | us |
| 80 | dichotomy test | 6,000 | id |
| 81 | htet admit card 2019 | 5,900 | in |
| 82 | maari 2 review | 5,900 | in |
| 83 | breana rouhselang | 5,900 | us |
| 84 | 冬季北方海域作戦 | 5,700 | jp |
| 85 | lluvia de meteoros de las gemínidas | 5,700 | pe |
| 86 | president bush funeral | 5,500 | us |
| 87 | sisca icun sulastri | 5,500 | id |
| 88 | βροχή μετεωριτών geminid | 5,500 | gr |
| 89 | bird box review | 5,500 | gb |
| 90 | hol dir dein geschenk | 5,500 | de |
| 91 | bird box meme | 5,400 | us |
| 92 | destiny 2 dawning recipes | 5,400 | us |
| 93 | port orchard tornado | 5,300 | us |
| 94 | dance on top of a crown of rvs | 5,300 | us |
| 95 | мария тереза кареньо | 5,300 | bg |
| 96 | andreas hvid | 5,200 | us |
| 97 | ecotassa auto 2019 | 5,200 | it |
| 98 | dawning recipes | 5,200 | us |
| 99 | ronil singh | 5,200 | us |
| 100 | felices fiestas 2018 | 5,100 | do |
It looks like phrases related to the new year dominate this list.
Top NEW Google searches in YOUR niche (in December 2018)
Did you know that you can use the “newly discovered” feature in Keywords Explorer to find search queries (containing any “seed” keyword) that were recently added to our database?
Keywords Explorer > enter a seed keyword > Newly discovered
You can do some seriously cool stuff with this!
For example, imagine that you run a movie reviews website.
You could enter “netflix” as your seed keyword and find all the newly‐discovered Netflix‐related terms that we discovered in the last month. Go a step further by adding the word “review” to the “Include” filter to see all the new Netflix movies that people want to see reviewed.
It looks like 1983 and Birdbox were particularly popular in December!
Seriously, this is a potential goldmine of keyword opportunities. So please do play around with it and see what you can find. 🙂
Free mini‐tool is coming soon… we (still) promise!
Back when the original version of this article was first published (April 2017), I mentioned that we were working on a mini‐tool that would be updated with fresh data from all countries… every month.
I’m quite embarrassed to admit it, but we still haven’t had a chance to finish making this.
(In all honesty, we got carried away with the brand new Rank Tracker and Site Audit tools.)
BUT it is ~80% complete—here’s a preview:
We’re expecting the next few months to be a bit less hectic, so we’ll have this ready for you soon!
Stay tuned! 🙂