Trending topics
Every Monday we take the topics that have grown in each country’s searches and ask AI assistants what they recommend. The ranking shows which brands they name first, with their interval.
What it measures
For each topic of the week we write three fixed questions, one about choice, one about comparison and one about budget, and ask them to every assistant. We count who is named first, who is named and which sources are cited.
How a sample growing topic becomes three fixed questions for the assistants, and what each one makes it possible to count.
| Question | Example on the topic “hiking backpacks” | What is counted |
|---|---|---|
| Choice | “Which hiking backpack do you recommend?” | The brand named first. |
| Comparison | “Is a thirty- or a forty-litre backpack better?” | The brands named and the sources cited. |
| Budget | “Which hiking backpack under eighty euros?” | Who is recommended in that price range. |
Where the topic comes from
Rising topics come from Google Trends, by country. The editorial team keeps only those where a recommendation makes sense: breaking news, private individuals, personal health, politics, minors and tragedies are left out. Choices and discards are on record.
The steps by which a topic growing on Google Trends enters the weekly edition, or stays out under the declared rules, with the choice recorded.
Google Trends shows the topics that grew in the country during the week.
Out go news events, private individuals, personal health, politics and minors.
What remains are the topics where purchase advice makes sense.
Accepted and discarded topics stay in the edition’s log.
The news of the day
A news story has no brand to recommend, but it has sources to learn from. For these topics the ranking counts the publications and sites the assistants cite, in the same edition.
The same weekly edition treats a topic where a brand is recommended differently from a news story where people look for sources to keep informed.
| Consumer topic | News of the day | |
|---|---|---|
| What is asked | Which product to choose for a need. | Where to find out about what happened. |
| What is counted | The brands named first in the answers. | The outlets and websites the assistants cite. |
| What is not done | Judging which product is better. | Linking a brand to a news story. |
Status of the editions
The first measured week is being collected. The ranking is published on a Monday, when the edition passes the declared thresholds; until then no topics, brands or percentages appear here.
The preparation status of the weekly topics ranking: what is being collected, when it comes out and what does not appear on the page until then.
Related paths
The Observatory publishes rankings with their methodology. From here you move on to the other series, to the edition methodology and to the page that brings them all together.
Regular rankings of which brands AI assistants name first, in six countries, with a public method and open data under a CC BY 4.0 licence.
ReadHow every Observatory ranking is built: published questions, repetitions, 95% intervals, thresholds, topic sources and corrections.
ReadEvery month, the questions customers ask before choosing and the brands AI assistants recommend, sector by sector.
ReadEvery month, the brands and stores AI assistants suggest for the purchase categories with the most interest.
ReadEvery month, how much room AI assistants give the leading brands of each sector and country, and with which sources.
ReadEvery week and every month, the brands most present in articles, compared with what AI assistants answer.
Read