The end of another year means it’s time to reflect on the events and news items that unfolded in states like Missouri between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, leading many of us to hit our favorite search engine to dig up the latest tidbits of news.
In the Show Me State, the lion’s share of search engine queries in 2023 centered around the rise of AI, which beat out a handful of tech, entertainment and sporting terms as the biggest surge in year-over-year search interest during the year.
Utilizing Google Trends, BetMissouri.com decided to break from our usual Missouri sports betting updates and analyzed the most searched terms in the state of Missouri from January 1st, 2023 to December 10th, 2023. We finalized the Top 10 queries by utilizing the terms that have seen the biggest increase in search volume over the year of 2023.
Missouri's Most Searched Terms of 2023
What Did Missouri Residents Search For Most In 2023?
As mentioned above, the biggest increases year-over-year in terms of search terms were “ChatGPT” and “Temu,” with those two surging by 1,600% and 1,300% year-over-year respectively. The top searched-for term centers around an AI platform that many Americans now use to solve a litany of daily tasks, which have presented ethical questions about academic integrity and intellectual property rights.
Still, it seems like Missourians were fascinated by the AI fledgling in 2023, with the term beating out Boston-based online marketplace Temu, as well as “Character AI” (+1,000%), “Oppenheimer” and “Weather 10 Days” (+850% each).
The search volume surrounding “Oppenheimer” is of little surprise, given the summertime blockbuster’s success at the box office and the cultural phenomena that surrounded the Christopher Nolan flick, especially in relation with Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.”
The rest of Missouri’s top 10 when it came to the biggest movers in search volume were “Super Bowl 2023” (+700%), “Travis Kelce’ and “The Last of Us” (+350 apiece) and “Connections” (+300%).
The first two of that group were tangentially related to the hometown Kansas City Chiefs, with K.C. beating the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, while Kelce’s ongoing relationship with pop star Taylor Swift has brought him unprecedented interest from sports fans and non-sports fans alike.
Regardless of what they searched for in 2023, it seems like the one unifying thing for Missourians of all backgrounds is their shared love of searching Google for whatever interests them at that given moment, with the year-end search volume figures saying that much in the Show Me State.
Stay with BetMissouri.com for expert reviews of the best Missouri sportsbook apps expected to land in the State when legalized.
Author
Christopher Boan is a lead writer for BetMissouri.com, specializing in covering state issues. He has covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
