Google sets up Search Trends page for PH elections

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 11) — With two months left before over 60 million Filipinos vote for the country's next leaders, Google recently launched a Search Trends page for topics and searches related to elections in the Philippines.

Among many other features, it shows how much a presidential and vice presidential candidate is being searched on Google compared to their opponents.

Under their names, it will show where the interest is coming from per region and other related topics and questions being searched by netizens. It also shows if the interest in them is going up or down in the past days.

Google News Initiative said this tool helps put political trends into perspective. It, however, stressed that Google Trends is not a substitute for polling data.

"Crucially, it is important to recognize that Google Trends is not a substitute for polling data. Search interest has no bearing on voter intention — Google users may search for a party or politician for any number of reasons, without intending to vote for them. Trends data is indicative only of what Google users want to know more about," it said.

The dashboard showed that that presidential candidate Leni Robredo and VP bet Sara Duterte are the most searched aspirants in the past week, as of Friday morning.

The page also includes data on the top policy issues searched in each part of the country, such as education, drugs, economy, tourism, agriculture, and poverty, among others.

Google previously announced it will not accept election-related advertisements for the 2022 national polls from Feb. 8 to May 9.