What the UK googled most during lockdown

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the news of lockdown, we’ve found ourselves having to completely adapt our lifestyles in terms of work and socialising.

For the majority of us, this is the most unusual experience of our lifetimes, and with these unprecedented times have come some rather abnormal search trends! We explore the various terms that have been experiencing extraordinary levels of Google searches during lockdown (as well as taking a look at some of the plummeting trends!).

Home office setup

With the sudden switch to remote working, many of us found our businesses and teams having to be set up at home overnight. While flexible home-working policies have become more and more commonplace over the last decade, thanks to advances in technology and digital tools, many businesses were starting this entire process from scratch. This meant search terms for certain tools and office equipment received record traffic.

Just some of the emerging search trends included:

How to conference call
How to use MS Teams
How to mute on Zoom 

And digital collaboration systems such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Workplace by Facebook experienced their highest number of searches, for the last year, in the last month (end of March/early April).

As people everywhere pondered how to conference call, video tools Zoom and Skype also had a spike in searches at the end of March, and again in April when the news of a lockdown extension was announced.

While desks, desk chairs, laptops, printers, and even home plants, hit their peak search numbers at the end of March and into April as people sought to create their own cosy workspaces at home for the foreseeable future.

Leisure & pastimes

As we entered lockdown, many of us embarked on a new hobby and searched for activities to keep the household occupied such as boardgames and pub quizzes.

Many of us chose to take some ‘me time’, and focus on healthy habits and mindfulness & wellbeing to keep sane, reflected in trending search terms such as:

Yoga
Mental wellbeing app
Home gym
Online gym
Resistance bands
Bikes
Veg box

All of which hit the peak of their popularity in searches for the last year, during lockdown.

With more time on our hands, lots of us felt a welcome wave of productivity, searching for new hobbies or jobs around the house. With trending searches including:

Learn a language
Learn guitar at home
Guitar lessons online
Gardening
Paint
Recipes
Baking and more specifically, how to bake cookies 

And talking of cookies, summer diets were out the window too, with plenty of us turning to some home comforts to help us through. Search terms like cake delivery and alcohol delivery have risen dramatically over the last couple of months.

Business communications

Keeping businesses and their customers talking was a key priority and so for many business owners, their first port of call was finding a way to maintain consistent communications without service levels being disrupted.

Telephone Answering Service, one of our core services at Moneypenny, usually hits its peak number of searches around the summer months and Christmas break as business owners search for holiday cover. However, during the lockdown, this term experienced a spike as businesses began looking to outsource their calls in the wake of closing offices & shops, furloughed reception staff, or for some, an unexpected influx in calls.

Call Divert also received an enormous spike in popularity at the end of March as a result of COVID-19, particularly within the London area, as many searched for a way to forward business calls through to their personal landlines or mobiles to avoid callers hitting the voicemail.

Live Chat – a term we’re not surprised to see – hit peak levels of popularity for the entire year at the end of March, as the pandemic struck. As many businesses were forced to work remotely, Live Chat has been a powerful channel for triaging customer enquiries and giving customers easier accessibility and quicker resolution to urgent queries.

What’s NOT being searched?

Whilst DIY and home workouts are on the up, there are lots of activities we, unfortunately, just can’t think about right now  – with some of the most popular search terms for this time of year very much on the decline as a result of COVID-19.

Sunny shorelines and cocktails by the pool may feel like a long way off at the moment, and as you would expect, below are three terms we aren’t currently searching for:

Tripadvisor
Holidays
Flights

At the moment life is on hold for many of us, with big decisions like getting married or buying a new car put on ice, hence Autotrader and wedding venues experiencing a drop in search traffic, too.

And while the sunny weather would usually bring out flocks of us to the local pub or out for a spot of alfresco dining, we’ve had to focus on our own cooking skills in the kitchen and picnics in the garden instead, with a decline in the following searches:

Restaurant
Bars
Beer garden

What’s next?

As talks of easing lockdown progress, the UK is bracing itself for life after lockdown. Return to work and business recovery are at the forefront of Google searches right now, as we prioritise getting back to work safely and bouncing back as quickly as possible.

Moving forward, it will be essential to embrace a flexible approach to operations and workplace culture. At Moneypenny, our business continuity solutions provide peace of mind to businesses of all shapes and sizes – helping you to keep communications flowing with your customers, no matter where you are.

Chat with our business continuity experts today to discuss a free trial – call us on 0333 202 1005 to find out more.