What are you going to do for Valentine’s Day? If you don’t know yet, Google has a few tips for you.
On the Google blog today, Jim Lecinski, VP of U.S. Sales for Google, posted some interesting facts about Valentine’s Day that only the search giant that is Google can provide.
The company reveals that searches for “valentine’s day dinner,” “valentine’s day recipes,” “romantic dinner,” and “romantic recipes” have been increasing in volume since the start of February and eventually hit their peak on February 14.
For those who just want to make some cookies, Google suggests you use the Google Recipe view that provides thousands of recipes to the aspiring love chef. It will even let you custom-tailor the ingredients down to the right calorie count.
For those who want to naturally suggest their way into love, Google points to the Next Chefs channel on YouTube and their video on the best aphrodisiacs to use.
They also point out that searches for “vegan valentines” has more than tripled since 2006. Practicing vegans must have the healthiest holidays. I do envy them.
For those people who prefer to eat out on Valentine’s Day, “valentine’s day reservations” searches peak on February 9 and continue strong throughout the holiday. It just means that there’s more competition in getting that spot a the local Waffle House on the holiday.
Lecinski does caution men who may try to propose on Valentine’s Day. Don’t pop the question at a restaurant as a survey said 69 percent of respondents found a restaurant proposal to be “cheesy.”
The search giant finds that women start much earlier than men on Valentine’s Day shopping with 160 percent more women searching for gifts than men in January.
Over the past year, searches for “jewelry gifts” has grown over 10 percent, searches for “flower delivery” have grown nearly 20 percent and searches for “couples massage” has grown nearly 50 percent.
The couples looking for something a little different have also increased with searches for “valentine’s scavenger hunt” increasing by 20 percent from last year. Searches for “personalized valentines gifts” are up over 20 percent and “homemade valentines gift” searches are up over 60 percent from last year.
It’s like Google is speaking to me at the end as they go over stats for those celebrating Singles Awareness Day. They suggest that the lonely ones among us go catch a movie, but make it a horror film as searches for horror films are 230 percent higher than searches for “romantic movie” over the past 30 days.
As a final note, you should check out Google’s sweet Valentine’s Day themed YouTube slam and their Google Doodle that celebrates love among all people (and pets).