War in Ukraine, Danuše Nerudová among Czechia's most-searched terms for 2022

The war in Ukraine and related keywords dominated the most-searched terms on Google in the Czech Republic over the past year, according to Google Trends' Year in Search 2022. According to local search engine Seznam.cz, Czech internet traffic hit was highest over the past year in the days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"Ukraine" was the most-Googled term of 2022 in the Czech Republic, with [Vladimir] Putin coming in at number three. At number two, "election" was the only search term in the Czech Republic's top five not related to the war in Ukraine, ahead of January's presidential election.

Sberbank, the Russian-owned bank that was declared bankrupt by a Prague court in the months following the invasion, came in at number four. As the war led to surging gas prices, Tank Ono, a local chain of gas stations that routinely ranks among the country's least expensive, was the Czech Republic's fifth most-searched term.

Entertainment options rounded out the second half of Czechia's top ten search terms. HBO Max, Netflix's Stranger Things, the New York Times word game Wordle, and the Czech TV shows Survivor and Devadesátky filled out the top ten.

Local search engine Seznam.cz confirmed the country's interest in the war in Ukraine, registering the highest amount of traffic in the days following the invasion. The event with the second-highest amount of traffic was the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

"The highest number of visitors to our home page was on February 28 this year, when we received over 52 million clicks on articles, primarily in connection with the invasion of Ukraine," Seznam spokesperson Aneta Kapuciánová recently told reporters.

"Regarding the death of Queen Elizabeth II, for example, we received 39 million clicks [...] But [the Queen's death] set a record for the largest volume of data transferred. While people were watching her funeral online, we transmitted over 320 gigabytes per second."

With the January presidential election looming, Danuše Nerudová was the most-searched for Czech personality of 2022 according to Google Trends. The ranking could mean something as the former teacher bids to become the country's first female president; none of her fellow candidates ranked among the top five most-Googled Czechs.

Jana Michailidu, a member of the Czech Pirate Party who stirred controversy with allegedly pro-communist statements earlier this year, was the second-most-Googled Czech. She was followed by TV presenter Daniela Písařovicová, UFC fighter Jiří Procházka, and controversial businessman Michal Redl.

Multiple questions related to the coronavirus ranked among the Czech Republic's most-searched "How..." terms, with "How long does quarantine last" coming in at number one. "How to help Ukraine," meanwhile, came in at number three.

Between the pandemic and the war, what was the country's second-biggest question? "How to freeze mushrooms."

You can view the full list of the Czech Republic's most-searched terms for 2022 at Google Trends.