The FINANCIAL — Google reach in Georgia stands at 630,000 meaning that over 6 million words are searched by Georgians every day via Google’s search engine. Weather is the top searched word as of June 2016. It is followed by: movies, “pari-mutuel” betting, porn-related keywords and the world cup. With over 2,000 average monthly searches, PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili is one of the most searched political leaders. However, his popularity still lags behind that of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who has over 3,900 searches per month.
“The most searched words on Google depend on the season. As of June 2016 the top searched word is weather. Weather is the most popular search word during the summer period and also during the winter season when it is very cold outside. The average statistic of weather search is 110,000 in June. The second most popular word is movies. The third is related to pari-mutuel betting. The popularity of this word is directly linked to the marketing activities and promotions done by these service companies. Pari-mutuel betting was also quite trendy during the World Cup. The World Cup contributed to the popularity of football and is related to words searched on Google, coming in fourth place. Porn-related words are the fifth most searched for,” Merab Gotsiridze, Chief Digital Officer at AdvertWise, told The FINANCIAL.
Google trends, that show how often a particular search-term is entered relative to the total search-volume across various regions of the world, are not providing the list of top searched keywords in Georgia. The data provided in the article has been calculated based on Google keyword planner, which provides data around the search queries that happen in Google. Keyword planner allows one to see the statistics of each word.
Porn-related words, which were fifth in popularity, are followed by loans and financial products. Gotsiridze estimated this particular trend positively, explaining that it means that customers who receive extensive information regarding various financial companies and their products can then compare their conditions to choose the more favourable option for them.
“The geographical locations of Georgia are the seventh most searched words. This also depends on season. This trend is steadily growing in Georgia, which means that the local and also foreign population are prone to visiting other cities of Georgia, outside of Tbilisi. Contrary to local geographic locations, the trend of foreign destinations is decreasing. However, foreign destinations hold eight place. So, whereas a year ago Egypt was a trendier keyword on Google than Batumi, now the picture is radically different. The ninth most searched word is video. Special interest is paid to the search for branded Georgian video websites. The tenth keyword is games,” said Gotsiridze.
Further positions are changing regularly. More frequently these are words that are popular due to political events developing in the country.
According to Gotsiridze, in the past Google was less convenient for searching for Georgian products as local companies were not providing services via websites in accordance with consumer demand. Currently the conditions have changed. Georgian websites are in line with international standards.
Google reach in Georgia is 630,000 unique users.
According to Google Trends, Paris was one of the top trending searches of 2015. Google says there were more than 897 million searches about Paris following the deadly attack in November. In addition, following the Nepal earthquake, “How can I help Nepal” was the top global search, with people from different countries asking how to volunteer and what to donate.
Lamar Odom, the former American basketball player, topped the list for the most searched people in 2015. The 36-year-old, who was hospitalised after being found unconscious in a Nevada brothel in October, had been in the news for quite a long time.
Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine, which was attacked by terrorists in January, was in the top place for global news searches for 2015. With the release of her much anticipated third album, “25”, Adele broke many records, while putting her album at the top of the search list. She also found herself among the top 10 most searched people on Google and was the most searched musician.
Google trends also included consumer tech, wherein Apple’s latest iPhone edition, the iPhone 6s, ranked number one.
Gotsiridze has compared the popularity of Georgian political leaders. In his words, the most popular person has been Georgian ex-President Mikhail Saakashvili with 3,920 searches on average during June 2015-June 2016. “The trend of Saakashvili is reducing right now. During the second half of 2015 the average search for Saakashvili exceeded 4,000. Currently it stands at 1,900.”
As for the current Georgian President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, his average search has been 390 per month.
Ex-PM Birdzina Ivanishvili had only 630 searches on average per month. The number of searches for PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili is over 2,000. It is quite a high number for a person who has been in office for just six months.
“Keyword planner is a good method to measure how well individuals, companies or services are promoted. It means that Kvirikashvili’s PR team are working properly. The highest results for searches for Kvirikashvili were shown in December 2015 when the number was 4,400,” Gotsiridze said.
In order to get more exact data for the search, Gotsiridze said we should add over 10-20% to account for when users make even one mistake in their spelling of a keyword.
Advertwise is an online marketing company covering all spheres of digital marketing. Founded in 2014, the company is an official partner of Google and Yandex in Georgia. The team has five years of experience cooperating with foreign companies in the US, the UK, Singapore and Poland. As Gotsiridze said, the number of companies choosing to advertise their products online is increasing in Georgia.
“The number of internet subscribers in Georgia is constantly increasing. We are also witnessing an increase in usage of the internet in our daily lives for maintaining various services. Accordingly, more companies are starting to promote their products on online sources. Online marketing is a cheap and fast way of delivering services to customers. An additional benefit of this service is that everything can be easily calculated and measured in online marketing. One such tool, Google Analytics, allows one to research everything regarding consumer behaviour. It is a really cost-effective source,” he said.
In his words, due to the increasing popularity of online connectivity, more and more companies are trying to promote their services via online marketing. “So the segment of our users is quite diversified. Meanwhile, larger companies are definitely more active. They look for a wider range of sources to promote their products. The business sectors that are more active in online marketing are: banking, insurance, domestic appliances and telecommunications.”
“Besides Google and Facebook commercials there are various sources of online marketing. Email marketing, SEO (which means search engine optimization), and affiliate marketing (a process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s or companies’ products) are developing quite well in Georgia,” Gotsiridze said.
“In relation to googling a keyword, in order to position your company at the top of the results it is crucial to have a website in line with Google’s demands and standards. The standards are fully consumer-oriented, which means having fast, easily understandable, explanatory information on the website. Google improves its algorithms on a daily basis. When a person inserts a keyword it is up to Google to offer a website which is in accordance with his/her demands,” Gotsiridze told The FINANCIAL.
