Dating queries outpace matrimony search in India: Google

Dating-related searches are growing much faster than matrimony queries in India and non-metro cities have outpaced metros in online search across categories, search engine giant Google said on Thursday.

According to Google's "Year in Search: Insights for Brands" report, there has been a 75 per cent increase in "Near Me" queries and a 100 per cent growth in queries for co-working spaces.

"The online space in India has never been more vibrant. India has become the fastest Internet consuming country in the world and Internet has now become the bridge to the country's aspirations.

"As highlighted in the report, the growing influence of online videos, increase in usage of language and voice, along with a rise of ML and AI are opportunities for brands and marketers," Vikas Agnihotri, Country Director, Google India, said in a statement.

Indian language Internet users are expected to account for nearly 75 per cent of the total user base by 2021 and Google search trends show a significant move in this direction. "Hindi is also gaining traction in the technology sector with a two-fold increase in queries in Hindi, which are mainly coming from laptops and PCs", said the tech giant.

Last year saw an increase in the adoption of online automation as businesses used Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to drive efficiency and improve customer experience.

Brands across various categories, such as BFSI and telecom, have started integrating voice assistants like Google Assistant with their customer service to help customers.

Companies like Uber, Ola and Meru have made cab-booking services available on Google Assistant. Meanwhile, online video audience in India is expected to grow to 500 million by 2020. Watch time for science videos as well as hobby videos in India have more than tripled in 2018, said the company.