The events and people that had the UAE searching on Google in 2013

DUBAI // Ramadan was the most popular Google search term in the UAE this year, a sobering replacement to last year’s Gangnam Style.

Other religious festivals such as Eid and Diwali were also among the most searched terms.

The most popular food search was Qamar El Din, a traditional apricot drink served during Ramadan.

“It just shows how people care about their holidays and pay attention to how they can be a part of it,” said Maha Abouelenein, head of communications for Google Middle East.

Other top searches this year were iPhone 5S and Samsung Galaxy S4, in second and third place.

“The region and the UAE in particular are very tech-savvy,” said Ms Abouelenein. “They’re very into their mobiles. Both this year and last year, users were searching for the latest gadgets and the latest technology tools.”

Even though Gangnam Style, a song released by the Korean rapper Psy in July 2012, wasn’t top of the charts this year, it was still ranked fourth in the top 10 search terms.

“He hit a big benchmark in 2013, for the number of views of his channel,” said Ms Abouelenein.

“He came out with a new video this year, so they may have been searching for that new video by looking up Gangnam Style.”

Celebrity visits appeared to be a key factor in internet searches. The most popular were Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian and Katy Perry, all of whom made an appearance in the UAE in 2013.

“That’s actually very common, when something is happening around us in our country or city, we want to go out and get more information about it,” said Ms Abouelenein.

Other notable searches included Nelson Mandela and the actor Paul Walker, both of whom died recently.

“That shows that people here aren’t just interested in local events, but world events too,” she said.

The most popular movie, by search term, was Iron Man 3, followed by Man of Steel and Oblivion, and the most popular destination was London, followed by Singapore and Madrid. The most popular sports team was Real Madrid.

The results are compiled by Google Zeitgeist, an analytics tool deployed for most countries. The results for Europe and the United States will be published on Tuesday evening.

However, the company did publish results from Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Arabic search terms featured relatively higher in both country’s results compared with the UAE.

The most popular tourist destination among Saudi users was Jeddah, followed by Dubai. The emirate was again second among Egyptian users, behind Alexandria.

Web searches in both countries were more orientated toward Arabic movies and musicians, and current affairs.

Ms Abouelenein said Google released the analytics every year not for any business purpose, but more because they could.

“It’s our way to analyse and share with the users how searches are performing,” she said. “What people in the region are interested in and what they like to search for. It showcases the people, topics and events that captured their attention.”

Ms Abouelenein said it wasn’t detailed enough to act as a marketing tool for professionals, but could offer a general overview.

“It’s not a measure of consumer habits, per se, but it does offer insights,” she said. “It helps us understand what are the interests of people in the Middle East.”

mcroucher@thenational.ae