---
date: "2025-06-17T06:53:45Z"
categories:
  - linkedin
description: "Autocomplete suggestions across countries are an underrated social-research dataset that can reveal culture, anxiety, humor, and intent at scale."
keywords: ["Google autocomplete", "social research", "search suggestions", "culture", "digital exhaust", "cross-country analysis"]
---

Google Search Suggestions is still an under-used social research tool.

In 2014, I typed "how do I convert to". In India the top suggestions were "hinduism", "christianity", "islam", then "judaism". In Australia, it was "islam", "judaism", "catholicism", and "pdf" 🙂

Checking this across countries is hard. So I automated it at https://tools.s-anand.net/googlesuggest/. It's not perfect. Your IP influences results. But it's a good approximation.

For example, "how do I convert to" shows:

**Religious conversions dominate** across countries, to Islam, Catholicism, Judaism (in that order). Everyone's looking for a new life path.

But **tech conversions** to PDF, MP4, Excel, and eSIMs trump the meaning of life in South Africa, Pakistan and Nigeria.

**UK & Ireland** searches for "convert to Catholicism UK" and "Judaism in the UK,". Why settle for generic spirituality?

**Canada and the US** convert tons to cubic yards or Roth IRAs. Finance, faith and file formats mix.

**The Philippines wants memes**. Laughter is the best spiritual conversion.

**India adds vector images to the mix**. Let's convert the soul _and_ graphics while multitasking!

Try out some of the common questions: "how to", "why is", "how can I", "what is the", etc. and you'll find some interesting stories. For example:

- `what is the`: Nigerians repeatedly ask "what is the time in" various countries like the USA, Brazil, and Germany.
- `how can I`: Singaporeans ask "how can I keep from singing?
- `which is the`: Irish and Americans ask "which is the gay ear?
- `can I`: Australians and New Zealanders ask "can I pet that dawg?
- `why is`: Almost everyone wants to know "why is my poop green/black?

We don't usually think of digital exhaust like this as data, but it can be pretty rich source.

![](https://files.s-anand.net/images/2025-06-17-google-search-suggestions-linkedin.jpg)

[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn%3Ali%3Ashare%3A7340632731304792068)