Men, you contain multitudes—especially when it comes to your Google searches. And no one knows it better than us, the editors of GQ.com—the men and women whose job it is to pore over the data on your daily, weekly, and monthly Internet habits and tailor our website to your interests. All year, we analyze how and why you, the readers, end up on our website, and the variety of query terms that lead you to GQ.com never fails to delight and surprise us.
In any year, we'd hope to be a top resource for men wondering "how to grow a beard," "how to wear a tie clip," and "how to clean suede shoes," and lo and behold, it seems this year we were. We also helped educate many an inquiring man on "how to grow out your hair," "how to propose," "how to tuck in a shirt," "how buy a suit," "how to pack a suit," "how to use pomade," and yes, even "how to shave your balls." (We also lent a helping hand to guys hoping to learn "how to shave your testicles" as well as guys Googling caveman-style: "how to shave balls." Variations on "how often do couples have sex" also popped up frequently: how often should couples have sex, how often do couples have intercourse (!), how often should couples make love (!!!), and so on. Clearly you guys have priorities, and some weirdly formal language for boning.)
2016, however—all together now, once more with feeling—was a year unlike any before it. Our coverage went places in 2016 we would never have predicted at the start of the year. Which is probably why the top Google searches that drove traffic to GQ.com this year included this eccentric mix of hyper-topical questions:
"Who is Steve Bannon?"
"What is a cuck?"
"What are joggers?"
"What does 'Versace on the Floor' mean?"
"Are people still playing Pokémon Go?"
"Is Narcos in Spanish?"
"How tall is The Weeknd?"
"Why did The Weeknd cut his hair?"
"Does the Weeknd do drugs?"
"Does The Weeknd write his own songs?"
"Where does The Weeknd live?"
"What happened to Barb from Stranger Things?"
"How the fuck did Trump win?"
Some queries, of course, are evergreen—and while we're not sure exactly why you went to Google with existential questions like "Is kissing cheating," "How long should sex last," and "Do I have a twin" instead of to a human person whose wisdom you trust, apparently you found answers at GQ.com, and we're glad we could help. But perhaps the most telling figure we can give you from this strange, tumultuous 2016 is this stat: Among the top standalone search terms that brought your eyeballs to GQ.com this year were "Yeezy Boost 350 v2," "Melania Trump," and "Canadian citizenship."
