Inside Search
The official Google Search blog
A Year in Search: the moments that defined 2014
December 16, 2014
Every year, we reflect on the moments that made us laugh, smile from ear to ear, or kept us gripped to our screens in our annual
Year in Search
. It was a year in which we were struck by the death of a beloved comedian, and watched news unfold about a horrific plane crash and a terrifying disease. We were captivated by the beautiful game, and had fun with birds, a bucket of ice, and a frozen princess.
Watch our
video
to rediscover the events, people and topics that defined 2014:
Wishing the genie goodbye
“You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.” The passing of beloved comedian and actor
Robin Williams
shook the world, bringing many people online to search for more information and to remember—and putting Williams in the #1 spot on our global trends charts. There was even an uptick in searches related to depression tests and mental health in the days following his death. We revisited his iconic roles in movies like Aladdin and Dead Poets Society and found solace in
gifs
and
memes
that captured Williams’ spirit.
All the world’s a stage
Nothing brings people together like sports, and 2014 had one of the biggest athletic events in recent memory. The
World Cup
in Brazil had its fair share of unforgettable moments and had everyone glued to their TVs and mobile devices all summer. From Luis Suarez’s bite heard around the world, to Tim Howard's superman performance vs. Belgium, to Germany’s incredible run to their fourth title, the competition certainly lived up to its reputation and topped the charts.
While sports brought people together, so did a good cause. This year, awareness for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, reached an all-time high around the world due to the viral
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
. As celebrities and everyday people alike braved a bucket of ice cold water for a cause, donations to help find a cure for the illness hit almost $100 million.
Into the unknown
How could a plane just vanish into thin air? In the wake of the disappearance of
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
, that question propelled the mystery to the global trends charts. As the investigation continued on the ground and online, people stayed hopeful for a happy ending despite the dim odds: searches for “mh370 found” outnumbered searches for “mh370 lost.”
Here’s the full list of our top 10 global trending searches:
You can find more on these top searches and more at
google.com/2014
Explore the stories from the year, one chapter at a time
On our Year in Search site, you can take an in-depth look at the stories that made 2014 unforgettable. From the rise of the selfie, to understanding if we search for “how” more than “why,” each chapter shares a glimpse into the people and events that drove this year forward.
We've also made it easier to find the trending topics of the year directly from Google Search. For the first time, a simple search for [google 2014] will give you a peek at what made the top trending lists from around the world. And you can follow more insights from the year with #YearInSearch. So take a moment to appreciate what this year had to offer. It’ll be 2015 before you know it.
Posted by +
Amit Singhal
, Senior Vice President, Search
Reflect on 2014 with New Tools in Google Trends
December 16, 2014
Today
we released
our annual wrap up of top trending searches around the world. Once you've had your fill, you may be interested to check out some updates in Google Trends and in your search results.
2014 Trending Topics in Search
Sometimes you just want to know what's been trending -- and today we're rolling out a simple way to explore 2014 trending topics in Search. Search for [2014 trending topics], [2014 trends] or similar queries in 45+ languages and you'll discover a new feature listing the top trends of the year based on Google Trends data.
Click on any of the topics listed to quickly perform a search and learn more, or click the menu to explore trends in 61 countries around the world.
Trending on YouTube in 27 countries
The web is about much more than searching—it's about reading, sharing, listening, watching, creating... What if you want to explore the pulse of everything happening online?
Last month we took a small step in that direction, introducing a new feature to explore videos
Trending on YouTube
in the United States. Now you can explore videos trending on YouTube in 27 countries. Visit
google.com/trends
and click on “Trending on YouTube” and you'll discover a list of videos spiking in popularity.
The new YouTube lists in Google Trends are our most comprehensive and dynamic yet, taking Google Trends technology and building on earlier efforts that started with
YouTube Trends
and the
YouTube Popular Now Channel
. Depending on the day, you'll find up to 200 newly trending videos, so you can keep a pulse on the latest trending
game highlights
,
late night satires
, and
Minecraft voiceovers
.
Fresh design for a fresh new year
Today we've also rolled out a number of design updates to the Google Trends website designed to make it simpler, cleaner, and more colorful. Among other tweaks, you'll notice an updated navigation menu, updated typography, spacing, and a refreshed design for Top Charts (home of our annual trending topics). Check it out and be sure to tell us what you think by clicking "Send Feedback" at the bottom of Google Trends pages.
Posted by Jake Hubert, Product Manager
Google Translate - 10 More Languages with your Help
December 11, 2014
Cross-posted from the
Google Translate Blog
Whether you're teaching yourself a new language or trying to make a new friend,
Google Translate
can be a powerful tool for crossing language barriers. Today, we're adding 10 languages to Translate, bringing our total number of supported languages to 90. These 10 new languages will allow more than 200 million additional people to translate text to and from their native languages. These languages are available now on
translate.google.com
and will roll out soon to our mobile apps and to the built-in translation functionality in Chrome.
If it weren't for the active
Translate Community
participation, we wouldn't be able to launch some of these languages today. While our translation system learns from translated data found on the web, sometimes we need support from humans to improve our algorithms. We're very grateful for all the support we're getting today and we hope that together with our community, we can continue improving translation quality for the languages we support today and add even more languages in the future.
Spotlight on our new languages
Africa gets more language coverage with Chichewa, Malagasy, and Sesotho:
Chichewa
(Chinyanja) is spoken by 12 million people in Malawi and surrounding countries. It is one of 55 languages used in the greetings that now travel the galaxy on the Voyager interstellar probes.
Malagasy
is spoken by 18 million people in Madagascar, where it is the national language.
It is one of only a few languages which puts the verb first in sentences, followed by the object and then the subject.
Sesotho
has 6 million native speakers. It is the national language of Lesotho and one of 11 official languages in South Africa.
In India and Southeast Asia, we are adding Malayalam, Myanmar, Sinhala, and Sundanese:
Malayalam
(മലയാളം)
,
with 38 million native speakers, is a major language in India and one of that country’s 6 classical languages. It’s been one of the most-requested languages, so we are especially excited to add Malayalam support!
Myanmar
(Burmese, မြန်မာစာ) is the official language of Myanmar with 33 million native speakers. Myanmar language has been in the works for a long time as it's a challenging language for automatic translation, both from language structure and font encoding perspectives. While our system understands different Myanmar inputs, we encourage the use of open standards and therefore only output Myanmar translations in Unicode.
Sinhala
(සිංහල) is one of the official languages of Sri Lanka and natively spoken by 16 million people. In September the local community in Sri Lanka organized
Sinhala Translate Week
, and since then, participants have contributed tens of thousands of translations to our system. We're happy to be able to release Sinhala as one of the new languages today!
Sundanese
(Basa Sunda) is spoken on the island of Java in Indonesia by 39 million people. While Sundanese does have its own script, it is today commonly written using the Latin alphabet, which is what our system uses.
In Central Asia, we are adding Kazakh, Tajik, and Uzbek:
Kazakh
(Қазақ тілі) with 11 million native speakers in Kazakhstan. We've received strong support from Kazakh language enthusiasts, and we hope to continue collaborating with the local communities in the region to add even more languages in the future, including Kyrgyz.
Tajik
(
Тоҷикӣ
), a close relative to modern Persian, is spoken by more than 4 million people in Tajikistan and beyond.
Uzbek
(
Oʻzbek tili
)
is spoken by 25 million people in Uzbekistan. In addition to receiving Uzbek community support, we've incorporated the Uzbek dictionary by Shavkat Butaev into our system.
We’re just getting started with these new languages and have a long way to go. You can help us by suggesting your corrections using "Improve this translation" functionality on Translate and contributing to
Translate Community
.
Posted by the
Google Translate engineering team
Unwrap the new Google app for iOS
December 11, 2014
Think of it as our early holiday gift to you — today we’re releasing the rebuilt Google app for iOS. It’s ready for download in the
App Store
and will help you multitask more merrily this season. You can now see and return to your recently visited pages or start a new search with a single tap, as well as find nearby places and explore interactive maps right inside the Google app. All of this is wrapped up in the sleek packaging of
Material Design
.
When you’re busy searching for everything from your favorite online stores to the hours of the local ice skating rink to recipes for gingerbread cookies—likely all at the same time—the new “recents” button helps keep you organized. Tap it and you’ll find recently viewed pages open and waiting for you. Flip through them with a flick of your finger to juggle all your tasks.
You also no longer have to worry about how to get back to the mic (or search box if you’re more of a typing, um, type) to ask your next question. The new Google button at the bottom of the app will take you right back there with one tap.
Last but not least: you can now search Google Maps within the Google app! Now, whenever you search for a place—whether it’s a tree farm or a restaurant after a long day of shopping—you’ll see a map right there with the results. You can get a quick sense of where you’re headed, or even explore Street View if you want to take a closer look. When you’re ready to get going, your trusted Google Maps app will be waiting a tap away with directions.
Once your plans are made, Now cards in the Google app will help you keep track of it all: you can count on a notification letting you know when the perfect gift you ordered will ship, and the flight you booked or table you reserved for your office party will pop up in helpful cards as well.
With the Google app by your side, we hope your holiday season is a little less hectic, and a little more happy!
Posted by Nick Hobbs, Product Manager, Search
A new wave of mobile-friendly sites
December 10, 2014
Have you ever visited a website using Google Search on your mobile phone, only to find that the text was too small, the links were tiny, and the content could not be viewed without scrolling sideways? This usually happens when the website has not been optimized to be viewed on a mobile phone and can be a frustrating experience.
Surfing the web on your mobile phone should be enjoyable and effortless, which is why we’re now helping you find out in advance which websites offer a good experience on mobile devices. Look for the
mobile-friendly label
in our mobile search results like this:
We hope this helps everyone to have a better mobile web experience. You can hop on for the ride too! If you notice that your favorite websites don’t have the mobile-friendly label, reach out to the site owners or webmasters and let them know about your mobile experience on their sites. And if you want to make mobile-friendly websites, visit our
Guide for mobile websites
.
Let’s ditch the pinching, scrolling and aimless tapping, and welcome the new wave of mobile-friendly sites.
Posted by
Javier Perez
, Google Search Quality Team and
Doantam Phan
, Google Mobile Search
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