However you feel about Google Search these days, it's still an indispensible way to find information on the web, according to survey from Digital Third Coast.
More than half of respondents (55%) say they they ask Google a question 10 times a day on average. Twenty percent can't go a day without using it. And 96% use Google to get answers when they need real, concrete information.
But plenty of people ask Google the kinds of questions to which there may be no real answers. Digital Third Coast looked at 8,647 search terms that put Google to the test and broke them out to show the top existential queries per US state.
Some of the questions exhibit palpable angst. The residents of multiple states ask, "What should I do?" (sans any details) or "Is there a god?" Faith, religion, and doubt obviously are involved here, but so are the mysteries of life that aren't so important, such as, "Is a hotdog a sandwich?" (If a bun is involved, the answer is yes.)
Over the last 12 months, we've been collectively concerned with dreams, meaning, exhaustion, and the sense of self.
(Question number one isn't exactly something people should have a crisis about. The sky being blue has a concrete scientific explanation—watch this musical version from Ask the Storybots.)
Beyond existential questions—which 31% of people who took part in the survey said they've asked Google—people also go to the search engine for advice. And they believe what they read; 21% trust Google results more than they trust family members. Survey takers, and by extension, nearly everybody, trust Google more than they'd trust an AI chatbot; only 10% would go to AI first.
Should Google be the only oracle you consult? Probably not. Ninety-six percent of respondents say you should do additional research beyond advice given by Google. But the study doesn't say whether respondents actually take that extra step.
