Google's annual top trends report incorporated a survey of several search terms reflecting diverse local, regional, and international trends.

Google categorized the top trends into several sections, including General, how-to, Top Personalities, Top Songs, Top Sports Queries, and Top TV Shows.

Ahram Online examines the most searched-for topics by Egyptians in Arabic on Google in 2023.

The Israeli war on Gaza

In 2023, the Israeli war on Gaza ranked first among the topics/terms/news Egyptians searched on Google.

Egyptians’ search for news about the Israeli war on Gaza spilt over into other search categories on Google, including most searched people. Therefore, Google devoted a whole section to these searches, designating it in Arabic as the Palestine and Israel war.

Among the section’s top searched terms were the Palestinian flag and the original Pre-1948 Palestine map.

Furthermore, Egyptians on Google searched actively for Sinai, given Israeli statements about forcibly displacing the Palestinians from Gaza to Sinai.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, however, affirmed on several occasions that Sinai shall not be an alternative homeland for the Palestinians and that Egypt will not allow the liquidation of the Palestinian cause by allowing the forced displacement.

The Rafah border crossing also ranked high among the top-searched terms as Israel remains adamant on imposing restrictions that curtail the smooth flow of aid convoys to Gaza. Egypt and the international community have called on Israel to ease these restrictions and to open more border crossings with the strip to facilitate the delivery of aid in a timely and sustainable manner.   

Taba also figured prominently on Google searches, not as a top Red Sea resort but as a site of a downed  Houthis missile that was intended to hit the Israeli city of Eilat.

Moreover, the term “Al-Aqsa Flood,” which designates the operation that Hamas and other Palestinian factions launched against Israel on 7 October, figured prominently as one of the highest-ranking terms searched by Egyptians on Google.

Most searched people

Thanks to his interview with Piers Morgan, Egyptian comedian and TV host Bassem Youssef is back to being among the top Google search trends. 

Youssef’s first interview with Morgan generated 12 million views on YouTube, only two days after it was aired on 17 October.

This huge success made Piers Morgan host the Egyptian TV satirist for an even lengthier interview in early November.

Abu Obaida, spokesman of Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, made it to the list of the most searched people in 2023, as many Egyptians and Arabs wanted to watch his announcements online and know more about that fighter, who became a masked hero.

In addition, the list of Google’s highest ranking search terms in Egypt included Mohamed Salah Ibrahim, the Egyptian Central Security conscript who was involved in the Egyptian Israeli border incident in June 2023.

On the day of the incident, an Egyptian Armed Forces spokesman said an Egyptian policeman, who was pursuing drug smugglers across the security barrier, exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers. The incident resulted in the death of the policeman, three Israeli soldiers, and the injury of two others.

The spokesman added that security and legal measures were being taken to investigate the incident and secure the area. He offered condolences to the families of the deceased and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded.

Mohamed Sallam, the Egyptian Comedian who backed out of participating in a musical comedy produced in Riyadh in October, in solidarity with the Palestinian people, was also among those most sought-after on Google.

Sallam earned the respect of Egyptians and Palestinians, who felt that he had demonstrated genuine solidarity with Palestine and Gaza.

Surprisingly, the highest-ranking Google search personality in 2023 turned out to be none other than Ahly SC footballer Emam Ashour, following his transfer in July from Danish FC Midtjylland to Ahly.

Furthermore, Egyptians searched actively on Google for news regarding the war in Sudan, Egypt’s immediate southern neighbour, especially after the fight between the Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces resumed in the past few weeks.

Egyptians also actively googled news related to the value of the Egyptian pound against the US dollar for the second year in a row, as many anticipate another devaluation of the Egyptian pound.

Moreover, the news of the earthquakes which hit Turkey and Morocco in the fall of 2023 figured significantly as one of the top trending search terms on Google in Egypt in 2023.

Egyptians also searched on Google for the waves of tremors that hit Egypt. They also searched for infamous Dutch researcher Frank Hoogerbeets, who claimed that an earthquake would hit Egypt on 15 April.

Egypt's National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) refuted Hoogerbeets and similar researchers, stressing that their methods are unscientifically proven and that the media should not follow their lead and spread fear in society. 

The list of most searched terms also included the deadly floods in Libya that caused the death of over 200 Egyptians, according to the latest Egyptian official statements.

Finally, the list of top Google search trends in Egypt saw the return of the Red Sea shark, following the death of a Russian tourist in Hurghada in June 2023.