In case you missed it…where have you been? The biggest film release of all time has landed – Star Wars: The Force Awakens came to UK cinemas last week to a great fanfare and huge expectations.
Hardened Star Wars fans are quietly hoping that The Force Awakens won’t be another Phantom Menace, J.J. Abrams fans are wondering whether the film will finally redeem him after Lost, while millennials are simply excited by the opportunity to see a Star Wars film in the cinema.
So with all this excitement, who is winning the search war? The Dark Side or the Light?
Search turns to the Dark Side
This one looks pretty conclusive…in the UK we are far more interested in what the Galactic Empire has to offer than the Rebel Alliance.
In fairness to the rebels, a band named “Galactic Empire” have recently released a heavy metal cover of the Star Wars theme song, which seems to have skewed the stats. The video seems to have gone somewhat viral, stacking up an impressive 415k views on YouTube in just 4 days.
Among Google’s many Star Wars Easter Eggs and integrations is the option to choose either the Dark or Light Side to apply to your Google Apps. For example, selecting the Dark Side will see your car turned into a TIE fighter on Google Maps. A lot of fun!
Fortunately for the galaxy, there are currently more people signed up to the Light Side than the Dark…so perhaps the Rebel Alliance will win despite the disparaging search trends…
Darth Vader is still killing it
Over 50% of search traffic supports characters belonging to the Rebel Alliance, but the most searched character is still the lord of darkness himself: Darth Vader.
Vader is an iconic villain – still recognised by the American Film Institute as the third best film villain of all time (beaten only by Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates…stiff competition). So perhaps it’s not that surprising that he is still killing the search battle, along with a few incompetent captains of the Death Star.
It’s slightly surprising that franchise favourite Han Solo hasn’t made the top five, being beaten by both his furry co-pilot Chewbacca and the Skywalker twins.
Wales has the biggest Star Wars fans
Star Wars fans in Wales were the most active on Google, scoring 100 in the UK search index. Who knew Wales was the most Star Wars obsessed region of the UK?
Scotland and Northern Ireland drew for second place, while England were unpredictably last. Perhaps all the allusions to an Empire seemingly ruled by Oxbridge graduates chimed a little too close to home for some…
Too many fans are masochists
Despite many fans taking to the internet to plea with people not to post Star Wars spoilers, the same search term is a ‘breakout’ trend. Does this prove that Star Wars fans are secretly masochists?
Perhaps not. The fastest rising search term is still “force awakens reviews”, showing that fans are still sceptical after the much-anticipated yet highly disappointing release of The Phantom Menace in 1999 – some wounds will never heal…
The trailer has broken more records than the film
Film buffs, pundits, and studio executives all expected The Force Awakens to smash every box office record. Unfortunately for the franchise, Disney failed to secure a release in China for the opening weekend, meaning the film fell just short of having the biggest grossing opening weekend ever. The title is still held by Jurassic World which managed to bring in an incredible $524.9m in its first weekend.
However, the trailer has managed to smash all records. In the first 24 hours this epic preview had already been watched a staggering 112 million times, including the 62 million or so views on YouTube, making it the most watched film advert of all time!
Don’t let your SEO turn to the Dark Side
Search traffic may have turned to the Dark Side, but that doesn’t mean your SEO practice should follow suit. Remember: It’s fear that leads to the Dark Side. Fear of your ranking slipping, fear of not hitting your targets, fear of changing search algorithms.
Let the Light Side of Ambergreen assuage your fears. Just record a quick holo-message, chuck your nearest available R2 unit in an escape pod and send it our way (Alternatively, send us a message via our contact page).
