Google’s annual Year In Search, a look at the year through the collective eyes of the world on the web, offering a unique perspective on the year's major events and hottest trends, reveals a collation of the events, people and searches that shaped 2017 locally and globally.

This year’s most trending searches reveal that Kenyans turned to Google to search more about the 2017 General Election. Searches related to the elections occupied six positions on the list of ten top trending general searches as Kenyans keenly followed events surrounding the elections.

When Kenyans weren’t keeping up to date with the local political scene, they sought to find out more about prominent  figures and global events. From Mwai Kibaki, Janet Kanini, Robert  Mugabe, Joseph Nkaissery, Chris Msando to Jimmy Wanjigi, Kenyans demonstrated interest in these individuals who made news headlines in 2017. Questions on Catalonia’s independence also featured in top searches showing Kenyans’ desire to understand global experiences.

As all other years, sports were also dominant in this years trending searches with Kenyans eagerly looking up to sporting events such as the Africa Cup of Nations, the Mayweather Vs McGregor boxing match to the Confederations cup.

Top on the list of all the general trending searches was IEBC results. NASA Coalition and its flag bearer, the Jubilee Party and the presidential results were the top trending search items around the Kenya Elections. The phrase Tibim, morphed into a political slogan was also among the trending searches. The word traces its origin to Embakasi East MP, Babu Owino who first used it during a political rally. He later said “Tibim is Greek word meaning revolution, political revolution”.

Away from the elections, Despacito, a spanish song by Puerto Rican pop artist Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee topped the list of the year’s trending searches on entertainment scene, and the fourth overall trending search by Kenyans. Despacito has todate broken the YouTube streaming record - becoming the first song to reach four billion plays on YouTube, besides several other renditions coming along including Ameru, Kisii and Kalenjin versions of the song. The Trending entertainment searches saw Bazokizo by Bruze Newton featuring Collo, and Odi dance by Timeless Noel featuring Hype Ochi and Jabidii come in  second and third respectively.

Former president Mwai Kibaki was the top  trending personality of the year. This followed rumors about his health and demise. Current Embakasi East MP Babu Owino who is known for originating the word “Tibim”, was the second trending personality. The former SONU chair had dominated news headlines for various reasons after his election to the August house. Ezra Chiloba, CEO of IEBC also made to the trending list.

In the “What is” category, “What is Sarahah” became the top trending query amongst Kenyans. Sarahah- an app that allows social media users to send messages anonymously, soon faced criticism, for providing avenues for cyber bullying. “What is pangolin” and “What is bitcoin” were the second and third trending search queries respectively.

In the county searches category, IEBC remained top of the trending searches in Kisumu, Mombasa and Eldoret. Likewise, football dominated the county searches with Chelsea being the top trending team in Mombasa and Eldoret while Arsenal being the favourite in Kisumu county.

Here is a breakdown on 2017's top searches on Google in Kenya:

Top Trending Searches

1.    IEBC Results

2.    Gambia

3.    KCPE 2017 results

4.    Despacito

5.    Tibim

6.    NASA Coalition

7.    Jubilee Party

8.    NASA flag bearer

9.    Standard Gauge Railway (SGR)

10. Presidential results

 Trending People

1.    Mwai Kibaki

2.    Babu Owino

3.    Ezra Chiloba

4.    Janet Kanini

5.    Nicholas Biwott

6.    Robert Mugabe

7.    Joseph Nkaissery

8.    Nderitu Gachagua

9.    Jimmy Wanjigi

10. Chris Msando

Trending Events

1.    Kenya Elections

2.    Lecturers’ Strike

3.    Mayweather vs McGregor Fight

4.    Confederations Cup

5.    Africa Cup of Nations 2017

6.    Zimbabwe coup

7.    Hurricane Irma

8.    Easter 2017

9.    Catalonia independence

10. Ramadan 2017

Trending Sports Personalities

1. Alvaro Morata
2. Romelu Lukaku
3. Philippe Coutinho
4. Nemanja Matić
5. Ivan Perisic
6. Thomas Lemar
7. Cheick Tiote
8. Antonio Conte
9. Dennis Oliech
10. Floyd Mayweather

Trending Entertainment Searches

1.  Despacito
2. Odi dance
3.  Bazokizo
4. Zilipendwa
5. Shape Of You
6. Nyashinski Malaika
7.  Big Brother Naija
8. Bet Awards 2017
9. Eunice Njeri Wedding
10. Beyonce Twins

Trending Health Searches

1. Guillain-Barré (GB) syndrome
2. How to lose weight
3. How to lose belly fat
4. How to get pregnant
5. Cholera

Trending “What Is”

1. What is Sarahah
2. What is a Pangolin
3. What is Bitcoin
4. What is Biology
5. What is Covfefe
6.  What is old and new at the same time
7.  What is Happening in Zimbabwe
8. What is the meaning of Tibim
9. What is Pesalink
10. What is IEBC

Trending “How To”

1. How to check KCPE results online
2. How to file KRA returns
3. How to make pancakes
4. How to write an application letter
5. How to lose belly fat
6. How to make money online
7. How to bake a cake
8. How to create a website
9. How to get pregnant
10. How to write a report

County Searches: Mombasa

1. IEBC
2. Kenya Elections
3. Raila Odinga
4. Confederations Cup
5. NTSA
6.  Chelsea
7. Mayweather vs Mcgregor fight
8. Nyali Cinemax
9. La Liga table
10. Uhuru Kenyatta

County Searches: Eldoret

1. IEBC
2. HELB
3. Chelsea
4. EPL table
5. Manchester United
6. Kenya News
7. OLX kenya
8. KRA
9.  Arsenal
10. KUCCPS

County Searches: Kisumu

1. IEBC
2. Arsenal
3. Manchester United
4. Government Human Resource Information System (GHRIS)
5.  E-citizen
6. Chelsea
7. Jumia
8. HELB
9.  IEBC jobs
10. KUCCPS

The Star/ Frank Muchugu