Google Year in Search: What South Africans searched for in 2025

As the South African Police Service (Saps) come under scrutiny, General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi was one of the major subjects of South Africa’s top searches for 2025.

Year in Search

This was revealed by Google in its 2025 Year in Search for South Africa, which shows what people in the country tried to understand, fix, follow, and debate over the past year.

“Year in Search continues to highlight what matters most to South Africans,” said Kabelo Makwane, Country Director for Google South Africa.

“From celebrating our icons to navigating everyday life, Search remains a trusted tool helping people explore, learn and stay connected. This year also showed how deeply AI is becoming integrated into people’s daily information journeys.”

Mkhwanazi

According to the findings, Mkhwanazi was one of the major subjects of South Africa’s top searches for 2025.

“His visibility grew through regular media briefings and increased scrutiny of his work, with searches for him surging in July when he accused senior political leaders and police officials of corruption. Recurring events like Earth Day also ranked highly, reflecting sustained public interest in climate change and environmental issues.” Google said.

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AI

According to Google, artificial intelligence (AI) emerged as another defining theme this year, marking a turning point in how South Africans engaged with Search and embedding it more deeply into everyday information-seeking behaviours.

“The surge in queries such as ‘Google Gemini’ highlights the country’s rapid embrace of emerging technology and a growing desire to understand and access powerful AI tools.”

G20

With South Africa and the US squabbling over the recent G20 Leaders’ Summit,  South Africans also followed major local and international affairs, with searches for the G20 summit and the Budget speech featuring prominently in the top “When is” searches.

Google said this highlights strong public interest in political and economic developments.

“Practical financial matters also drew attention, with the new two-pot retirement system appearing among the top ‘How to’ searches, showing people’s desire to understand the policy and navigate online withdrawals.”

‘How to’

In terms of top-trending ‘How to’ search was ‘How to vote on Big Brother,’ highlighting South Africans’ intense engagement with a fiercely competitive season that dominated social media and everyday conversation.

Sport

Sports searches reflected South Africans’ diverse interests.

International footballer Diogo Jota, who passed away this year, was the most searched athlete, followed by the Rugby Championship log table, which tracks the progress of the four-nation annual tournament featuring South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Argentina.

Women’s sports also featured prominently, with the Women’s Rugby World Cup and Women’s Cricket World Cup ranking among the top 10 searches.

Top Searches

1. Temu
2. General Mkwanazi
3. Earth Day
4. Chat GPT free
5. Google Gemini
6. Unisa Registration
7. iPhone 17 Pro Max
8. Hangwani Maumela
9. Flysafair R11 tickets
10. Shaka iLembe Season 2

Top When is Searches

1. When is Father’s Day?
2. When is Mother’s Day?
3. When is Easter?
4. When is Good Friday?
5. When is Diwali?
6. When is Eid?
7. When is the G20 Summit?
8. When is Halloween?
9. When is the Budget Speech?
10. When is Comrades Marathon 2025

Top Trending (How to) searches

1. How to vote on Big Brother
2. How to log in Hollywoodbets
3. How to apply for SAPS online
4. When is SASSA payment for February 2025
5. How to qualify for Club World Cup
6. How to check tax return
7. How to apply for two-pot system online withdrawal
8. How to check R370 payment date
9. How to apply for refugee status in USA from South Africa
10. How to make pickled fish

Top sporting trends

1. Diogo Jota
2. Rugby Championship table
3. Women’s Rugby World Cup
4. World Athletics Championships
5. FIFA Club World Cup
6. U20 Rugby final
7. School Rugby Rankings
8. Bafana Bafana
9. Women’s Cricket World Cup
10. South Africa U20 Afcon

To check out the rest of the Year in Search categories, including what trended in other countries, head here.

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