Methodology & Findings

• The research team initially looked to identify the top trending industries during the past six months by conducting an exhaustive search of inventories and indicators of the hottest, most trending, most searched and most popular sectors worldwide across top-tier media (e.g., Yahoo! Finance, U.S. News), search analytics experts (e.g., Semrush, WordStream), investor trades (e.g., Nasdaq, Benzinga), market researchers (e.g., IBISWorld) and other credible media sources (e.g., Digimind, DigitalCommerce360).
• Key located inventories and indicators included the following:
• The industries most represented within the Top 100 Google Searches Globally in 2020 (e.g., social media, entertainment, retail), per Semrush.
• The most searched Product Categories in 2020 (e.g., health and wellness, entertainment, education), per DigitalCommerce360.
• The sectors represented within the Top 50 Most Discussed Global Brands Online in 2020 (e.g., entertainment, technology, retail/consumer goods), per Digimind.
• The industries experiencing the Highest Click-Through Rates on Google in 2020 (e.g., dining and nightlife, gifts, travel), per WordStream.
• The sectors receiving the Most Interest from Investors in 2020 (e.g., pharmaceuticals, travel, restaurants), per Nasdaq.
• And the Fastest Growing Industries in 2020 (e.g., grocery, cough & cold medicine, 3D printing), per IBISWorld.
• After determining that there is no unified, widely-accepted ranking in the public domain for the most searched or trending industries, the research team identified Semrush's report on the Top 100 Google Searches Globally in 2020 and their associated industry categories as the most credible, comprehensive, current and quantitative representation of the top trending and most searched industries.
• Notably, the top  industries identified in this ranking were also widely corroborated by other methods of analysis. For example, entertainment in the form of video streaming (e.g., YouTube, Netflix) and gaming (e.g., Roblox) was not only identified as the second most popular search category on Google, but was also flagged as one of the top five most searched product categories, the top industry among the most discussed global brands, one of ten leading investment trends for the year and the tenth-fastest growing industry in 2020.

• Ultimately, the most represented sectors within the Top 100 Google Searches Globally in 2020 are:
• Social media (11%).
• Entertainment, divided into Video Streaming and Gaming based on a detailed review of the top search terms themselves (10%).
• Retail, divided into Home Improvement and E-Commerce based on a similar review of specific search terms (10%).
• Media (9%).
• Web Services (8%).
• Gambling (5%).
• Travel (4%).
• Healthcare, added based on the prominence of terms such as "coronavirus."
 
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• The categories of "translate," "weather" and "mail" were excluded as trending industries based on a detailed review of the top search terms themselves.
• Finally, recognizing that these rankings were based on data that included the first and second quarters of 2020, the research team assessed each of these top ten industries within Google Trends to confirm that interest in these sectors remained consistent (or increased) during the last six months of 2020.
• Details of this Google Trends analysis are available here and here, as well as below.

 

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