Srinagar, Jul 27: From checking weather forecasts to being obsessed with real time cricket scores, the online search habits of people in J&K over the past year offers a sneak-peek into their priorities, interests, and daily lives.
Google Trends data for J&K shows that weather emerged as the most searched query over the past 12 months. This underscores the undeniable dependence on forecasts amid erratic weather, snowfall, rainfall, and highway closures. Plus the recurrent flood concerns have people glued to their phones for updates on rainfall.
The Urdu word for weather ‘Mausam’ figured among the top searches, indicating strong interest from areas where Urdu is a more preferred medium of search. Between July 19 and July 25, the term ‘weather’ search reach 100 Google Trends Index value, indicating how people worried about incessant rains that brought water bodies to the brink of flooding.
Cricket is the king of online attention in J&K. Besides Cricbuzz, the second most searched query, significant interest was recorded in searches related to IPL 2026, Asia Cup, India vs South Africa, Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, and the T20 World Cup. Among the fastest-rising queries, IPL 2026 recorded a “breakout” surge. The searches for the FIFA World Cup 2026 jumped nearly 3900 percent over the recent past.
The data also suggests that artificial intelligence is steadily entering the mainstream in J&K. ChatGPT featured among the top searched queries with a 60 percent increase over the previous year. Google Gemini has ranked among the fastest-rising searches with a growth of massive 1600 percent.
The appearance of Gemini AI separately among rising searches also reflects growing curiosity among netizens about AI-powered tools. Government recruitment continues to command public attention with JKSSB among the most searched terms. This highlights sustained interest in recruitment notifications and examinations amid shrinking avenues of employment.
Beyond major events, WhatsApp, WhatsApp Web, YouTube, Translate, and News also feature prominently among searches. Users, it appears, are increasingly relying on Google as a gateway to frequently used online services.
Some consumer goods have also featured in top searches, and search trends: queries for bluetooth speakers, microwave ovens, and bridal lehengas have recorded sharp increases.
Google Trends measures relative search interest rather than absolute search volumes.
The rankings reflect the popularity of search queries over time and not the total number of searches.
