Google’s 2025 “Year in Search” report names Gemini, its AI chatbot and model family, as the top trending Google search in 2025, signaling how quickly AI assistants have moved into the mainstream of everyday curiosity.
How Google’s Year in Search actually works
Google’s annual “Year in Search” is not a simple list of the most typed-in queries. Instead, it highlights searches that saw a sustained rise in interest compared with the previous year. That means established staples like “weather” or “maps” rarely appear, while fast rising topics such as new tools, cultural moments, and breaking news float to the top.
In 2025, that methodology pushed “Gemini” to the number one spot worldwide, ahead of major sports matchups and political stories. For anyone building AI products, content, or workflows, this is a signal: large language models are no longer niche experiments, they are the center of the conversation.
Gemini, DeepSeek, and the rise of AI chatbots as culture
The list does not just feature Gemini on its own. Another AI assistant, DeepSeek, also appears among the top ten trending searches, showing that people are actively comparing and testing different chatbots. The search box is turning into a front door for AI tools, not just websites.
This sits alongside other 2025 obsessions: international cricket clashes like India vs England, high profile political incidents, and food trends such as hot honey and viral weeknight recipes. Movies like “Anora,” superhero blockbusters, and the “Minecraft” film drove curiosity in entertainment, while actors such as Mikey Madison and Lewis Pullman led the trending performer lists.
Sports fans searched heavily around global tournaments including the FIFA Club World Cup, the Asia Cup, and the ICC Champions Trophy. On the club side, European football teams such as Paris Saint Germain and Benfica ranked ahead of North American franchises, with the Toronto Blue Jays still breaking into the top tier of trending teams.
News, podcasts, and books that shaped 2025 search behavior
On the news front, queries about Charlie Kirk and his assassination topped the trending list, followed by searches related to Iran and to the United States government shutdown. These patterns capture how people turn to search in the first minutes after a breaking event to understand what actually happened.
Long form attention also shows up in the data. “The Charlie Kirk Show” led podcast searches, ahead of the Kelce brothers’ “New Heights” and a show centered on California governor Gavin Newsom. Readers gravitated toward novels like Colleen Hoover’s “Regretting You,” Rebecca Yarros’ “Onyx Storm,” and Naveesa Allen’s “Lights Out,” each appearing among the top trending book queries.
Taken together, the lists show how search reflects attention across short clips, long form audio, and reading. For brands and creators, that is a reminder that a search strategy cannot live in isolation. It has to tie into podcasts, social clips, newsletters, and product experiences that people are already talking about.
What Gemini’s top slot means for builders and operators
Gemini’s position as the top trending Google search in 2025 is bigger than a leaderboard trophy. It confirms that many users are actively curious about AI tools beyond the first wave of hype. People are searching for how to access Gemini, how it compares to other models, and how to put it to work in daily life.
For businesses, this is an opportunity to meet users where they are: answer questions directly on search, build AI powered experiences that plug into Gemini, and create content that speaks to common “how do I use this” queries. For creators and operators, there is space to build niche guides, workflows, and domain specific copilots that ride on top of the interest Google is already surfacing.
The other clear message is that AI is now a horizontal topic. It appears alongside sports, politics, recipes, and celebrity news rather than in a separate “tech only” lane. That shift will matter for how you name products, structure landing pages, and design onboarding flows in an AI aware world.
How to use Year in Search data in your strategy
If you treat Google’s “Year in Search” as a dataset instead of a fun recap, it becomes a roadmap. Start with the categories that overlap your work: AI tools, industry specific news, local events, or entertainment formats that match your audience. Then, map each trending term to a content asset, product feature, or FAQ that your brand can own.
A practical workflow looks like this:
- Identify 5–10 trending queries that intersect with your product or niche.
- Design one clear, helpful page or resource for each query.
- Structure content so it can be read by both humans and AI answer engines.
- Turn the same insights into social posts, email sequences, and in product education.
- Track how search interest around those terms shifts during the year.
In an era where AI assistants often answer questions before a user even clicks, the brands that win are the ones that provide clear, structured, and trustworthy explanations that models can quote and link to.
Frequently asked questions about Gemini as Google’s top trending search
What is Gemini in the context of Google search trends?
In this report, Gemini refers to Google’s AI chatbot and model family, which integrates with services like Search, Android, and Workspace. It became the top trending global search term in 2025 as people looked for ways to try it, compare it with other AI tools, and understand what it can do.
How is a trending search different from the most searched term overall?
A trending search measures change, not raw volume. Google looks for queries that grew quickly and stayed popular compared to the prior year. Common everyday searches such as “weather” still dominate in total volume but do not appear here because their interest level is stable rather than spiking.
Why does Gemini’s ranking matter to businesses and creators?
Gemini’s top ranking confirms that users are motivated to learn about and experiment with AI assistants. For businesses and creators, this is a cue to build content, education, and products that explain how AI can solve concrete problems, like research, writing, support, or planning.
Are AI chatbots replacing traditional search behavior?
AI chatbots are reshaping search, not fully replacing it. Many users still type queries into a search bar but now expect conversational answers, summaries, and recommendations. The result is a hybrid pattern where classic search pages, AI answers, and chat style interfaces work together.
What happens next as AI terms dominate search trends?
As AI tools continue to lead search trends, companies can expect tighter integration between assistants like Gemini and everyday workflows. Over time, more queries will be answered inside AI interfaces, so brands that structure their information for both search results and AI summaries will have a compounding advantage.
Work with Trending Society
If you want to turn rising interest in AI assistants into real products, our Custom GPT Development service helps you design AI agents that match your data, workflows, and customer journeys. Learn more at our Custom GPT Development page.
AI search trends like Gemini’s breakout year are a preview of how people will discover and use tools for the rest of the decade. The brands that adapt now, treating search and AI answer engines as a single ecosystem, will be the ones shaping how users work, learn, and buy in the years ahead.
Sources & References:
1. Aisha Malik. "Gemini was Google’s top trending search term in 2025." TechCrunch, December 4, 2025. https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/04/gemini-was-googles-top-trending-search-term-in-2025/
2. Google Trends. "Year in Search 2025." trends.google.com (accessed via TechCrunch link).
Original reporting by TechCrunch and Google Trends. Analysis and commentary by Trending Society.
