What are the most popular search trends for Game of Thrones?

As far as costume-related search trends are concerned, Daenerys Targaryen is the most popular female character to dress-up as by quite a distance.

Unsurprisingly, Jon Snow was the most preferred male costume. As a result, Latitude looked towards developing a hypothetical strategy for a fancy dress company.

Latitude paid media executive, Chris Morris, suggested running two separate paid search campaigns split by gender targeting the exact same keywords, as well as the implementation of ‘countdown ads’ to create a sense of urgency ahead of Halloween.

However, the overall purpose of the exercise was to determine how Game of Thrones has actually impacted searches for ‘real world things’ (i.e. things that are not mutually exclusive to the show). A decline in interest in dragons quickly uplifted following the show’s first airing in 2011.

Tattoos

People’s interest in wolf tattoos has also rocketed since the show began. Latitude’s SEO Strategist Ed Turner, suggested how he would use this information when running an organic search campaign for a tattoo parlour.

This involved creating and optimising a Pinterest Board about Wolf Tattoos, as well as producing an in-depth piece of content for visual inspiration. You can read a more detailed account of this strategy in the original blog post on the Latitude website.

Deaths

The first step was to analyse Game of Thrones deaths, since it’s a regular occurrence in most episodes. According to Google Trends, there was more interest in the death of fan-favourite Jon Snow than any other character’s death in the show so far.

However, such is the popularity of Jon Snow, that more people would rather re-watch the demise of Joffrey according to YouTube trends.

Bearing this information in mind, Latitude’s search marketers discussed the potential for a brand like Neurofen running an ad with a “splitting headache” message in light of people re-watching the scene on YouTube. They also identified the opportunity for a public service announcement regarding spiked drinks, as a similar display strategy following Joffrey’s death.

Death is not really a big deal in Game of Thrones (it happens in literally every episode). Except for when it’s a major character who gets the chop. Or the noose.

Joffrey’s death was second, followed by the untimely demise of Prince Oberyn. This makes sense, right? Jon Snow is the show’s poster boy, and almost universally loved by the fans.

In fact, people love him so much, they don’t want to watch him die over and over again. Looking at YouTube Trends, we can see that people enjoy re-watching the death of Joffrey more than that of Jon Snow.

Of course, these are all single deaths. When it comes to a complete massacre, with multiple main characters dying at once, the Red Wedding has everyone beat. That’s on both Google and YouTube Trends.

Interest in the Red Wedding spiked again last year, possibly due to Arya Stark’s vengeance against the reprehensible Frey’s in the finale of season 6.

Castles

One of our favourite real-world trends, however, is the number of people who are watching Game of Thrones, and actively going out to visit real life castles. The increase in searches for ‘castles near me’ (UK) clearly correlates with the show.

Some of Latitude's other clients include London & Country Mortgages, Yours Clothing, and CycleStore.