St. Patrick’s Day is an annual cultural celebration that takes place on March 17th. While it is typically an Irish holiday, it is often celebrated by people of all origins, cultures and religions throughout the world. It is usually commemorated with merry festivals and parades, and participants will often be kitted out in green attire and shamrocks. Not to mention the enjoyment of food and drink authentic to Ireland!
In the digital world, St Patrick’s Day is one of the public holidays that takes the internet by storm. Partygoers flock to social media to share their snaps while brands look to jump on the bandwagon and capitalise on the day’s huge attention. As the day draws nearer, those looking to celebrate will use search engines to find what they’re after. For instance, they may wish to find Irish pubs in their local area or are interested in cooking up a traditional recipe.
In this article we have rounded up some of the most interesting search trends regarding St. Patrick’s Day. By analysing Google search volume data for 2019 (based on global localisation), we can see how certain keywords received a significant increase in interest during March, correlating with St. Patrick’s Day.
2019 Search Trends for St. Patrick’s Day
‘st patrick’s day‘ – This keyword is clearly one of the holiday’s most popular searches and also the most relevant. However, it’s very broad and doesn’t offer an clear indication of what the searcher is specifically looking for. The month with the highest number of searches was March with 24,900,000, a significant increase over the second highest of 1,500,000 in February.
‘st patrick’s day activities’ – Plenty of fun activities are always scheduled in for St Patrick’s Day so it’s no surprise that people are interested in finding out more about plans in their local area. In March there were 22,000 searches for this keyword and 5,400 in February.
‘irish stew’ – Now we move on to the food and drink that makes Ireland special! In March there were 165,000 searches with 74,000 in February.
‘bacon and cabbage’ – Another popular delicacy in Irish culture is the bacon and cabbage dish. 18,100 people were interested in this during March, just less than double the amount of searches for January, October and November with 9,900.
‘green shamrock’ – The green shamrock is a famous symbol of Ireland and a popular choice of decorative celebration during St Patrick’s Day. In March there were 2,900 searches and 1,000 in February.
‘irish bars’ – Where better to celebrate the holiday than at a local Irish bar! This keyword received 18,100 searches in March, highlighting how many people are interested in finding a local Irish bar to celebrate. In comparison, several other months only received 6,600 searches for the keyword.
‘irish pub crawl’ – Similar to our previous keyword analysis, partygoers are very open to celebrating this Irish day with a pub crawl. There were 260 searches per month in March, the next highest being 90 in February.
‘guinness’ – Ah Guinness, the famous alcoholic beverage of Ireland! There were a staggering 555,000 amount of searches in March 2019 for this keyword. This was only rivalled in December when 450,000 searchers were likely preparing for their Christmas celebrations.
‘green beer’ – The last keyword we have looked at is green beer. While this is not a specific type of beer, it usually involves turning ordinary beer into a green colour as a special celebration on St Patrick’s Day. It’s no surprise that there were significantly more searches for this query in March than any other month with 49,500. February was the next highest with 8,100 searches.
Summary
These statistics tell us a lot about how consumers use search engines to find what they’re looking for in order to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. It’s no surprise that all of these keywords are most popular during March when the holiday takes place. Brands can use this information to help inform them about how best to put a search marketing strategy into place. While marketing activity efforts should be a priority in March, the month of February should not be ignored. There is significant search in February as people begin to plan their celebrations in advance. As a local bar, you will want your business to maintain a visible presence for related keywords during this period in particular. As for food and drink suppliers, keep in mind that consumers will be looking for products, ingredients and recipes that will help them achieve the goal of celebrating St Patrick’s Day in true Irish style.
Are you a business looking to boost your brand’s presence in search engine results? Contact us today to find out more about our SEO service.