BENGALURU: The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically changed what Indians are searching for on Google. Online searches for grocery delivery, immunity, online classes, UPI transactions, and even coronavirus insurance have gone up dramatically this year, according to Google’s latest ‘What is India searching for’ report.

The search for “horror movies” and “best Telugu movies 2020” went up a staggering 950% and 450% respectively, indicating that people are spending a lot more time on entertainment as they sit at home through the day.

Searches for “grocery delivery near me”, “online grocery delivery” and “ration dukaan” were up 550%, 350% and 300% this year compared to the previous year. Health issues were top of the mind. The word “immunity” saw a 500% increase, “vitamin C” went up by over 150%, and “corona insurance” a whopping 1,230%. But the last must be from a very low base considering it would have been negligible last year.

“Classes online” and “teach online” rose by 300% and 148% as schools organise online classes to make up for lost school days and ed-tech companies see a huge boost in demand from those looking to upskill. People are also looking for more advanced courses like machine learning and data science.

Searches to understand newer payment modes have been on the rise with “how to change UPI pin” surging 200%. Among digital payments, “UPI” had 3x more search interest than “IMPS” and 1.5x more than “NEFT”. Searches about UPI from non-metros grew faster at 79% compared to metro cities at 28%.
Also, with Indians spending 4.5 hours per day on their smartphones, the surge in interest for mobile app downloads as well as streaming platforms clearly indicates the step-up change in the ondemand services universe. Searches for “feel good movies” was up 204%.

“As a result of this non-linear-exploratory journey of the consumer, brands may feel the need to be omnipresent. However, by leaning on digital footprints of their consumers, brands can optimise to show up in the moments that really matter the most to their users,” the report from the global search giant said.