Official Google Canada Blog: April 2013

April Search Trends: Playoff Edition

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Trending this month on Google:

Boston marathon / Boston marathon explosion

Kevin Ware

Margaret Thatcher

Rehtaeh Parsons

Rita MacNeil

Roger Ebert

Finding Dory

Texas Explosion

Psy Gentleman

NHL

The Leafs make the Playoffs!

T.S. Eliot once described April as the cruelest month. The guy was clearly a Leafs fan.

If you take a look at Google searches for Maple Leafs in April - the month where playoff fates are finalized in the NHL - interest in the Buds basically flatlined after 2004. But this April, searches for the Maple Leafs are outpacing previous years by a factor of two to three hundred percent. Making the playoffs has that sort of effect.

What's also interesting... As you might suspect, searches for the Maple Leafs are very popular in Ontario. But the province responsible for the most Googles-per-capita for the term "Maple Leafs" in April: Newfoundland.

Leafs Nation?

Since 2004, nationwide searches for the Toronto Maple Leafs tend to outpace searches for the Montreal Canadiens. Except in April and May - you know, when it’s time for the playoffs. Well, that trend may be reversed this year. Heading into the first round, searches for the Maple Leafs are outpacing the Habs and Canada’s other playoff contenders (Senators and Canucks) by over 35%.

Not to suggest that Quebecers are anything but diehard fans of Le Tricolore, but searches in Quebec for “Leafs” are keeping pace with searches for “Habs”.

NEWS Boston Strong The tragic events in Boston dominated Google searches this past month. Over 25 percent of the top 100 trending searches in Canada were related to the bombings, including trending terms such as Watertown, Chechnya, and the Boston Globe. Canada Terror Plot Searches for Via Rail doubled this month as news of an alleged plot to bomb a Via Rail train broke in the news. Bird Flu A deadly strain of Bird Flu, H7N9, emerged this past month in China. Worldwide Google searches for “H7N9” spiked in mid-April with the reports of over 20 deaths in rural China linked to this avian flu. In Canada, search interest in this latest deadly flu strain was highest in British Columbia. The response from Chinese health authorities has been rapid, and by the end of the month searches for H7N9 were tapering off on Google BUSINESS Real Estate Despite news of Canada’s housing market cooling down, Google searches for “mortgage calculator” remain near the highest levels since 2008, coming close to the same kind of search volume we saw last year during the first round of the “mortgage wars”. And we’re seeing similar search patterns for the real estate listing website, MLS. That said, the numbers tell a slightly different story, when broken down by province. Saskatchewan is leading mortgage-related search activity this month, followed by Alberta and Manitoba. Meanwhile, British Columbia searches are 25% off their 2012 high. Bitcoin The peer-to-peer digital currency went on a bit of a rollercoaster this month, seeing its value jump to over $260 USD before dropping down to $105. Those ups downs resulted in bitcoin’s largest spike in search activity since the currency’s creation in 2008. Among the top 10 searches this month associated with the virtual cash: “What is Bitcoin?”
ENTERTAINMENT PSY The K-Pop sensation behind Gangam Style is back with a new hit. Released on April 12th, Gentleman has set YouTube records for most views in its first 24 hours, most views in any 24 hours, fastest music video to reach 100 million views. Gangnam Style remains the most popular video of all time on YouTube with 1.5 billion views to date. And Canadians are searching for “Psy” on YouTube even more than our neighbours to the south; and more now than at the height of Psy’s Gangnam style popularity last year. The "Harlem Shake" had recently challenged Psy and "Gangnam Style" for the top position in pop culture. Psy felt a lot of pressure to satisfy his growing fanbase, saying "Of course I feel more burden than before, because lots of people are watching." The new dance is characterized by fast, hip-swinging movements. Where’s Nemo? Try Google Worldwide searches for “42 Wallaby Way” spiked this month with news of a sequel to ‘Finding Nemo’. This fictitious Sydney street address was the mantra for the forgetful blue surgeon fish, Dory, in the 2003 Pixar hit. The sequel “Finding Dory” was announced this month on Ellen (who is the voice of Dory), and is due in theatres in late 2015. MISCELLANIA Google Nose Fallout!Google announced its latest addition to the search engine’s arsenal called Google Nose BETA, where searching for “diaper,” “dumpster,” “airport terminal” or “wet dog” yields results in Google’s "Aromabase." The April Fools joke from Google promised "to offer the sharpest olfactory experience available” in a search engine. Of course, Google Nose is completely fictitious, but that hasn’t stopped Canadians from searching popular terms like “unattended litter box,” “diaper,” “dumpster,” “wet dog” and “airport terminal” ... terms which all appeared in the trending terms for the month.Posted by Aaron Brindle, Google Canada

Mind the gap: Canadian businesses starting to hop onboard YouTube

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

comScorehereMcDonald's Canada“Why does your food look different in the advertising than what’s in the store?”Dragon BabyFord Canada’sPatrick Boivin’sGlobe and MailOrabrushDollar Shave ClubGoogle+Posted by Andrew Swartz, Google Canada

Public Alerts for Google Now, Google Search and Google Maps available in Canada

Monday, April 22, 2013

With floods and spring showers in the forecast, Canadians can now receive warnings of drastic weather changes directly to their mobile device or desktop.

Today we’re launching official severe weather notifications for Canada in English and French on Google Public Alerts. Relevant severe weather alerts will now appear on the Google Public Alerts page, in Google Search and Google Maps on both desktop and mobile, and in Google Now.
Providing people with warnings and information before severe weather hits is critical to helping ensure safety. Google Public Alerts is a platform designed to provide accurate and relevant emergency alerts when and where you need them. An alert will appear on your desktop or mobile screens when you search for relevant keywords such as flood or with location-based queries like Toronto. On Android devices running Google Now, alerts will appear automatically on Cards.
We couldn’t have launched Public Alerts in Canada without Public Safety Canada and Environment Canada. Their meteorological data will ensure our users are notified of severe weather when relevant. We also appreciate their commitment to open data standards such as the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP).
Here are example alerts in Canada surfaced on Search from a mobile device and Google Maps Mobile

For more information, or to see all active public alerts, visit our homepage at www.google.org/publicalerts. If you are a data provider, we also provide instructions here that will help you get your emergency data ready for Google Public Alerts.

We’re always working to improve Public Alerts, so please send us your feedback using the link at the far right of our Google Public Alerts homepage.

Posted by Steve Hakusa, Public Alerts Engineer

Governor General David Johnston to launch National Volunteer Week with Google Hangout

Friday, April 19, 2013

His Excellency the Right Honourable David JohnstonNational Volunteer Week

Ian Bird – Community Foundations of Canada

Brendan Glauser – Volunteer Canada

Susan Vardon – United Way Toronto

here Monday,April 22 at 1:30 pm ET

Posted by Colin McKay, Google Canada

Psy of the Times: K-Pop soars in Canada

Friday, April 19, 2013

In Canada we clearly have an interest for K-Pop in general, searching for related terms such as “kpop star”, “kpop dance” and “kpop music” on YouTube.

Canadians Simon and Martina have become the world's leading English-language experts on Korean Pop on YouTube. Simon and Martina are young English teachers in Korea, originally from Canada, who started a web-show on YouTube called Eat Your Kimchi. The show does very creative reviews of the latest Korean culture and has a big worldwide audience — +90 million video views and 318K+ subscribers. They are an example of a growing number of Canadian content creators that are building a brand and turning their passion into a career through YouTube, and becoming increasingly famous in Korea and around the world. ... and they have a Psy “Gentleman” (parody) - check it out!

Posted by Wendy Bairos, Google Canada

Psy Gentelmansearching for “Psy”interest for K-PopSimon and MartinaEat Your KimchiPsy “Gentleman” (parody) - check it out!

Posted by Wendy Bairos, Google Canada

Royal LePage's new website: giving Canadians a better way to find real estate

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Editor's note: Today’s guest blogger is Phil Soper, President & CEO, Royal LePage.

Buying a home is typically the largest purchase a family will make in their lifetime. It is no wonder that prospective buyers approach the task of finding their perfect place with such fervour. Today’s house-shoppers seek detailed, current and useful information on prospective properties and neighbourhoods. They are sophisticated users of search technology, but have traditionally been frustrated by the tools available to them. It is with this as a challenge in mind that we tackled a major redesign and rebuild of our popular real estate website, www.royallepage.ca, using Google technology.

The website integrates a new service from the Canadian Real Estate Association called Data Distribution Facility or DDF. Utilizing DDF, which our firm played a significant role in bringing to market, we will more than double the number of home-sale listings on www.royallepage.ca. For the first time, our website will showcase home listings from multiple property brokerage companies, not just Royal LePage, providing consumers with their one-stop real estate resource.

A good part of the magic behind the new www.royallepage.ca is hidden in the site’s architecture. While many real estate websites use Google Maps and Google Places, Royal LePage went a step further by constructing the website with Google Cloud Platform using Google App Engine and Google Cloud Storage. Real estate websites tend to store a large number of property records and photos, and require a large amount of location-based processing to render consumer search results. Utilizing Google Cloud Platform allows us to deliver that critical consumer information quickly and accurately. It will also allow us to scale our performance and our costs effectively as our real estate data and consumer base grows.

Uniquely, the site also employs cutting edge search technology from Google Cloud Platform, which enables consumers to go beyond traditional search to hunt for homes near local landmarks. For example, consumers can search for homes near the CN Tower, near Stanley Park or near Olympic Stadium. This innovative technology brings industry-leading search to the real estate consumer.

Relying heavily on a number of Google technologies, we were able to create an online experience unlike anything previously seen in Canadian real estate. The revamped website utilizes Google Maps and Street View for map-based search with visual assist. Many properties will display a Walkscore® ranking, which helps families understand what can be easily accomplished on foot in the area they are investigating. Additionally, tailored information is available for property listings, including Wikipedia neighbourhood photos and information, agent-produced video and descriptions, an overview of local amenities via Google Places and a list of other properties for sale in the area.

We are thrilled to unveil the new www.royallepage.ca in this, Royal LePage’s centennial year. Our website, powered by Google tools, will enable Canadians to explore their real estate dreams as never before. It will provide quick and efficient delivery of more listings, fresh neighbourhood insights, and extensive property details. It’s all there. Happy home searching!

(Cross-posted from the Google Enterprise Blog)

Posted by Phil Soper, Royal LePage Real Estate Services

Taking a minute to enjoy some art on World Art Day

Monday, April 15, 2013

World Art DaylaunchedOfficial Google BlogThe Art Gallery of OntarioCanada Council Art BankThe National Ballet of CanadaPointe-à-Callièreannounced the addition of a new collection curated by Stefan HancherowBrand New Aura

Art TalksG+ pageherePosted by Wendy Bairos, Google Canada

Google Maps brings Street View to Canada’s Parliament

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Parliament

The Google Maps Trolley collects Street View imagery of Canada's House of Commons

scrumart

The Trolley in the Hall of Honour, Centre Block

Prime Minister of CanadaSpeaker of the House of CommonsSpeaker of the Senate of CanadaLibrary of Parliament

The Trolley tours the Library of Parliament

About Street View and the Trolley Street ViewTorontoSki Slopes of WhistlerCanada's ArcticTrolleyMetropolitan Museum of ArtWhite HousePosted by Aaron Brindle, Google Canada

Google Toronto Community Grants Program - April 15 deadline

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

hereonline applicationApril 15thOctober 1st

A recent Google for Seniors event hosted by our Toronto Community Affairs team

encouraging science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education for K-12 students

closing the digital divide by helping ensure access to technology to underserved communities or populations

supporting digital adoption by training non-profits or small businesses to use online tools and technology, or

reducing our carbon footprint or carbon emissions, including by promoting alternative transportation programs.

submit your proposal
Note: For organizations in Montreal or Kitchener-Waterloo, you can apply for local community grants here (Montreal) and here (KW).
Posted by Leslie Church, Google Canada

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