From Arshad Nadeem to Heeramandi: Google reveals Pakistan’s Year in Search 2024
It's been a wild year on Google but you'll be surprised to know how much Pakistanis enjoy peach iced tea.
Keeping with their yearly tradition, Google has released its Year in Search report outlining what people wanted to know in 2025. The annual report offers a reflective look back at the trends people followed, the celebrities people wanted to know about and the news that kept people looking at their phones and refreshing the search page.
Pakistan’s Year in Search report was dominated by cricket, with dramas coming in second place when it came to entertainment. People were also fascinated by the boom we saw in artificial intelligence tools last year.
People learnt how to cook new meals, invest their money and take care of things like insurance and finding a lawyer. Students, anxious for their results, logged a lot of searches after matriculation and intermediate exams.
Here’s what Pakistan’s Year in Search looked like.
When it came to sports, Pakistanis were clear in showing cricket was their favourite. The most searched clashes were between Pakistan and South Africa, while the most searched tournament was the Pakistan Super League — perhaps thanks to Ali Tareen?
The Asia Cup, which ended in controversy with champions India refusing to take the trophy from Asian Cricket Council Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, was the third most-searched cricket topic in Pakistan and the second-most searched sporting event globally.
All 10 of the most searched for athletes mentioned in the report were cricketers, most being green shirts. The top spot, however, went to Indian batsmen Abhishek Sharma and Bangladesh’s Saif Hassan came in at number nine. Hassan Nawaz, Irfan Niazi and Sahibzada Farhan were the top three searched for Pakistani athletes this year.
The second most popular category for searches in entertainment were dramas — everyone knows how much dedicated fans love their 9pm serials.
Pakistanis had an appetite for action-packed thrillers this year, with dramas Sher, Mohra, Dayan and Dunyapur making it onto the top 10 most searched for dramas.
The news this year was a reflection of all the things people were worried about this year. Starting with the devastating floods that hit the country after this year’s monsoon rains, flooding in Karachi and in the Chenab River were the second and fifth most searched for topics.
Students were especially anxious after their board exams, with searches for results from the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE), grade 10 and grade 9 landing on sixth, seventh and 10th places.
Searches for technology were directed towards the various artificial intelligence tools that made their way into our lives this year. Gemini, Deepseek, On4t, Google AI Studio, Claude, and Grok all made it into the top 10.
Two more places were taken up by streaming services Tamasha and myco — our guess is their streaming of cricket matches helped.
Pakistanis learnt to cook new things this year, with many Google users trying their hand at cooking with tofu and quinoa — both exotic to a Pakistani kitchen.
Others chose to play it safe and searched up recipes for soup, sandwiches, and even just ‘easy recipes’.
For the ‘How to’ category, people really wanted tips on how to make and manage money, a theme that showed up elsewhere as well. Questions of investing in cryptocurrency, the stock market and getting a credit card were ranked fourth, fifth and sixth this year — linking closely with searches for NFTs in tech and gold rates in the news.
The most searched for topic were the newly introduced e-challans in Karachi and how to check them. People also wanted to know how to get a lawyer, which surely had nothing to do with their newfound interest in traffic fines.
Looking back at the results, some things are for sure, Pakistanis love their cricket — even if it stresses them out at times — they love their food and they love a good story.
They’re also somewhat adventurous, often looking for something new to do. Trying out new recipes, ways to make money and new tools that might make their work or lives easier.