Tech giant releases annual roundup of top-trending searches DUBAI: “Shabab Al Bomb 11” was the top-trending Google search of 2023 in Saudi Arabia on a list of TV series, films, and programs. It was followed by “Oppenheimer movie,” “Jawan movie,” “Barbie movie,” and “The Last of Us series.” The tech giant’s annual survey, released on Monday, rounded up the most trending search queries experiencing a higher volume of search over a sustained period this year compared to 2022. Lists included the top-searched news, platforms, events, movies, TV series, tournaments, and personalities. Marwa Khost, Google’s communications manager for the Middle East and North Africa region, told Arab News: “Every day, billions of searches are made globally on Google and 15 percent of these searches are new. “In the Middle East and North Africa, people use Google search to look for news, their favorite TV shows or sports game, or to discover new recipes.” She noted that they also used it as “an engine of growth” to look for new skills and jobs. In addition, people in the Kingdom had been searching for football-related terms throughout the year. The match between Al-Hilal and Real Madrid was ranked top in the football tournaments list, while footballers Aleksandar Mitrovic and Karim Benzema remained at the top of the personalities list. The nation’s interest in football was also evident in the local/regional events list where “Saudi Professional League” ranked first followed by “Arab club champions club.” The Israel-Hamas war was the top-searched topic in the news list, which also included the devaluation of the Pakistani rupee, and Buerger’s disease (a condition of the blood vessels). In the UAE, there was significant interest in cricket matches with the Cricket World Cup game between India and Sri Lanka being the top-searched tournament. Events such as Gitex 2023, COP28, and UFC 294 were also highly ranked, as well as earthquakes in Turkiye, Syria, and Morocco, and the conflict in Palestine. In Egypt, the Israel-Hamas war ranked first in the news list, followed by the devaluation of the Egyptian pound, and the quake that hit the country earlier this year. Among the top-trending searches for personalities, Egyptian footballer Emam Ashour came first, followed by actress Jory Bakr, and comedian Bassem Youssef after his interview with British journalist Piers Morgan.