Sports and celebrities remained a staple of Irish googlers in 2022, and with the outbreak of war in Europe, Ukraine, Russia and Vladimir Putin became topics of particular interest. However, it was Wordle that reigned supreme, taking the top spot as the overall most searched term of the year.
Google has revealed its annual 'Year in Search' data, showing what Irish people googled most throughout the year.
The overall category provides a snapshot of the year that was, breaking from the past two years when Covid-19 featured heavily in searches.
For 2022, Ukraine and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II were the second and third most googled terms overall, while the tragic death of Ashling Murphy in January placed her in the thoughts of the public.
Despite the Republic of Ireland not making it as far as the World Cup in Qatar, soccer's main event unsurprisingly drew a lot of interest in this year's searches, perhaps in part due to the controversy surrounding the games.
Johnny Depp's libel case against former partner Amber Heard had us hooked to proceedings unfolding in the Fairfax County Courthouse, while Netflix's depiction of Jeffrey Dahmer's crimes seemed to send Irish searchers in pursuit of more information on the notorious serial killer.
In addition to Depp and Heard, the top searched people's list also featured Will Smith, who made headlines when he slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars earlier this year.
Putin was the fourth most googled person in Ireland, while sports stars past and present also made the list in the form or Michael Owen (whose daughter Gemma appeared on this summer's series of Love Island) and Novak Djokovic.
Some of our nearest neighbours also warranted a quick google, as Britain's shortest-serving prime minister Liz Truss took the fifth spot, three ahead of the UK's former health secretary Matt Hancock, who appeared in the latest season of I'm A Celebrity.
The public also went in search to confirm the passing of famous figures, most notably the queen following her death on September 8th.
Golden Girl Betty White and Grease star Olivia Newton-John also made the list, in addition to Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins and Aaron Carter.
Ireland v New Zealand only came in third position in the list of most searched for sports terms, behind the World Cup and, interestingly, tennis' Australian Open, likely on account of the controversy surrounding the aforementioned Djokovic and his Covid-vaccination status.
The Nations League, Liverpool v Real Madrid and Ireland v Ukraine were among the soccer-related searches, while this year's GAA fixtures and the Winter Olympics were also on people's minds.
Health matters dominated the 'What is' search list, including 'What is monkey pox', 'What is hepatitis', and 'What is salmonella', while the war in Ukraine also appeared to prompt searches for information on Nato, oligarchs, and Ukraine's popultion.
'How to get a Covid cert', 'How to book PCR (tests)', and 'How to do antigen (tests)' were the only Covid-related survivors in the 2022 lists.
The 'How to' search list also showed Google was a there to answer all of our pressing questions, from 'How to tie a tie', and 'How to unblock your nose', right up the more serious matters of 'How to help Ukraine' and 'How to apply for fuel allowance online'.
And of course, when spellcheck was not up to the task, we turned to the search engine to see 'How to spell askew'.
