The overwhelming majority of online experiences begin with a search; Google alone handles an astonishing 70,000 searches every second of every day. As the world’s most popular and influential search engine, you would think that Google would have seen and heard every possible search term by this point in time.
But no, as Google has shared a semi-interesting factoid on Twitter, indicating quite the contrary:
“Fun fact: 15% of all Google searches have never been searched before.”
What this means is that around one in every seven searches conducted on Google is for something that has never been searched for before. This is at least slightly interesting given how difficult it is to think of something that nobody in the course of history has ever searched for.
Particularly after consulting Google’s annual listings of weird, questionable and downright sketchy searches conducted, which we will not be going into here.
As interesting as it may be, the whole thing does not actually qualify as news. Back in 2007, Google reported that approximately 25% of all searches conducted on the platform were brand new. By 2013, this had reduced to 15% of new searches.
After which, Google reported in both 2017 and 2018 that the figure was still 15%. Data from 2020 also indicated around 15% of all searches conducted for that year were new.
So while it is certainly interesting facts and figures to contemplate, it has not changed for at least five years now. Why Google chose right now to share this wisdom with the world once again is hard to say, but it is food for thought, if nothing else.
Even More Astonishing Facts and Figures from Google
Elsewhere, there are dozens of genuinely astonishing facts and figures about Google. In a world where one search engine has become the go-to resource for pretty much everything, the numbers really are biblical.
Sourced directly from Google along with a handful of other sites and studies, here are a few facts and figures that illustrate just how massive Google is from a 2022 perspective:
- Every second of every day, Google’s search engine handles approximately 70,000 queries.
- Or to put it another way, that equates to 227 million search queries per hour, or 5.4 billion searches conducted each day.
- There are still dozens of search engines in operation, but Google scoops up an enormous 90% share of the entire global search market.
- In the United States alone, Google regularly attracts around 246 million unique users. In context, this equates to more than three quarters of the country’s entire population.
- Google’s annual ad revenues have been growing steadily over the years, reaching an all-time high of $116 billion in 2018.
- The Android operating system (created by Google) powers at least 2.5 billion mobile devices currently in use around the world.
- Google collectively employees approximately 102,000 people worldwide, along with an astonishing 121,000 temps and contractors at any one time.
- Google is just one of the companies that falls within the Alphabet banner, which at the last count had at least 200 different companies under its ownership.
- Of the approximate 4.4 billion people who use the Internet worldwide, 4 billion of these people use Google on a regular basis.
- Google Chrome has comfortably shouldered past other Internet browsers to become the world’s most popular, with a market share of just under 70%.
- It is estimated that around 1.5 billion people rely on Gmail as their primary or exclusive email service.
- The paid marketing and advertising services offered by Google are now used by just under 3 million companies worldwide.
- Contrary to popular belief, search algorithm changes at Google are anything but infrequent. In fact, data suggests that Google makes anything from 500 to 600 alterations to its main search algorithm each year.
- Keeping up with Google’s ever-shifting demands, almost 70% of businesses that have created a mobile-first website said their performance has improved over recent years.
- Almost 60% of all online reviews published worldwide are Google reviews. An important figure to contemplate, when considering how 97% of consumers now use online reviews when deciding which businesses to work with.
- Around 10% of all searches conducted on Google target online reviews of some kind.
- According to Google, reviews are the third most important ranking factor when it comes to hitting the Local Pack at the top of the screen.
- Google recently reported that the average business now has 39 reviews, giving an indication of what to aim for if looking to outperform the competition.
A few eye-opening facts and figures that illustrate just how astonishingly large and influential Google is in 2022.