Google Trends and Media Coverage: A Comparison During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, infodemiological studies have utilized Google Trends (GT) data to monitor and predict changes in public interest and social behavior. However, the question posed by researchers regarding the relation between online search interest and public media coverage has remained mostly unanswered. Moreover, many studies focus their research mainly on disease labels and symptoms. Thus, this article aims to contribute to crisis research, providing a long-term analysis of Google search queries and media coverage in Germany between January 2020 and December 2022, incorporating a broad range of different keywords and categories. The study identified strong correlations between GT and public media data for the categories of disease labels, dynamics, and severity, followed by moderate to strong correlations for characteristics. GT analysis of these keywords may be suitable to monitor public awareness, validate the media impact and assess the efficacy of health communication strategies. Since the results for symptoms showed no significant relation, disease symptoms may serve as valuable keywords for surveilling or forecasting the spread of infectious diseases. The study emphasizes the significance of examining the relationship between media coverage and information-seeking behavior during pandemics and other crises.