In 2023, we set out to mark Google Search’s 25th birthday by elevating the most searched people, places, and moments of the last quarter century. Our goal was to drive an emotional connection with our users around the globe, especially Gen Z. As a part of this larger integrated campaign, we set out to target the vast Swiftie nation with an experience that would get them talking about the most searched songwriter of all time.

The campaign was anchored by the insight that Taylor Swift is the world’s most searched songwriter. To uncover this, we sorted and ranked a quarter century’s worth of Search data, collaborating with the Google Trends data team and subject matter experts to audit, calculate, and ensure an accurate crowning. We then dove into the world’s Taylor Swift–related Searches, identifying her most searched songs, lyrics, vault tracks, and more for each of her 10 eras.

We took a deep dive into Swiftie culture in order to understand the passion and inside language that drives Taylor’s globally devoted fandom. This led us to understand Swifties’ affinity for puzzles, Easter eggs, and treasure hunts and their unmatched sleuthing abilities.

So we set out to activate and delight them by building a digital experience unlike any other. One that encouraged them to work together on social media to crack a code and be rewarded with exclusive content, which they did – in record time, of course.

We collaborated with teams across our organization to create a custom Google Doodle that led users to The Most Searched Playground: an interactive scavenger hunt where people could seek and find 25 of the most searched things, and most specifically discover a hidden Taylor Swift–centric treasure hunt.

Inside the experience, users had to find a set of Easter eggs related to each of Taylor’s album eras. Upon finding them all, they unlocked one letter from a set of 21. This prompted collaboration with other Swifties worldwide to unscramble the letters and unlock a secret website URL. In parallel, they had to uncover the secret website’s password (sagittarius) by identifying the Easter egg hidden in our accompanying Most Searched film. This multilayered experience rewarded fans with exclusive content, including a Taylor mini-film and Search Trend insights curated for each of her album eras.

The campaign received an outpouring of global interaction and positive reception. Users spent over 1M hours with the Most Searched Playground, finding over 5.5M Taylor-related Easter eggs.

Numerous user-generated posts about the campaign went viral, leading to millions more views and spikes in Search interest; “taylor swift google year in search” became a top 5 trending search.

Over 275K fans unlocked Taylor’s hidden microsite, with 7/10 actively engaging with it, including watching the previously unlisted “Taylor Swift: The Most Searched Songwriter” film (520K+ views).

On Instagram and X, cryptic Easter egg posts written with Taylor’s team garnered 1.3M likes and nearly 600K views, respectively.

Overall, the 25 Years in Search campaign (including the hero film and interactive Doodle where Taylor’s scavenger hunt began) scored 3B impressions and over 10M engagements worldwide, trended on X, and ultimately became the most talked about Google brand campaign ever.