Although much of the focus for search engine stories often falls on Google, Bing is an increasingly important player for anyone looking to mount a comprehensive SEO campaign.
Although looking at the year’s search history may seem to be an “end of year list” of past the sell-by date clickbait, the data can actually be a useful tool for digital marketers.
Invaluable insight
Ravleen Beeston, Bing Ads’ UK Sales Director, explained: “Understanding the interests and motivations driving search behaviour online provides invaluable insight for marketers into the audiences they care about. This intelligence allows us to empower marketers to create meaningful connections that deliver more value for both consumers and brands alike.”
Beeston also said that by identifying the key searches over the past 12 months, marketers can be inspired to “create the right experience in the right context during the year to come.”
Looking at the trends of the past year can help you strategise for 2016 in one obvious way – you can see what has already been done and avoid it for fear of looking like you’re behind the times.
However, you can also get a good idea of what topics and trends people find interesting and want to base their searches around.
2015 trends
Key highlights from the results show that, as expected, celebrities in the news will always generate a lot of search action.
It’s also probably not a surprise that this year in the UK on Bing, Cilla Black was more searched for than Kim Kardashian. However, it might surprise some to find that Taylor Swift was the number one celebrity in Bing’s UK searches.
In the US, Caitlin Jenner in first and Miley Cyrus in second beat Taylor Swift into third place.
News
The general election and the subsequent contest for the leadership of the Labour Party took first and second places for most-searched news stories in the UK.
For sports news, the Rugby World Cup was the winner.
Entertainment
The most searched for song of 2015 was Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk”, even though it was actually released in 2014.
The most searched for film was Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which is out this month.
