The 2018 UK summer heatwave saw millions of Britons struggling to cope with the extended period of intense heat, with temperatures in some regions of the country exceeding 35℃, with many turning to Google to find ways to make the most of (or avoid) the heat.
New data, from online marketing platform SEMrush, shows that many Brits have turned to Google for advice on how to deal with the heat – with searches for ‘UK heatwave’ increasing 643% year-on-year for July 2018, which is when the temperatures were reaching their peak.
Similarly, searches for the phrase “how to cope in hot weather” were up 540% this July, compared to the same period in 2017.
The data also found that online requests for a number of summer-related items experienced a marked increase in 2018. Google searches for cooling fans from Argos were up 648% in July 2018, following a June where requests were down -55% from the previous year.
The data also found a host of other insights for July 2018 compared to July 2017:
Products
- Searches for “disposable BBQ” were up 83%
- Searches for “best sunburn cure” were up 49%
- Searches for “aftersun” were up 50%
Beaches
- Searches for “nearest beach to London” were up 124%
- Searches for “nearest beach to Birmingham” were up 125%
- Searches for “nearest beach to Manchester” were up 125%
Lidos
- Searches for “London Fields lido” were up 309%
- Searches for “Brockwell lido” were up 173%
- Searches for “Tooting Bec lido” were up 309%