‘Work from Home Jobs’ searches in India increase by 140%

Searches for ‘work from home jobs’ increased by 140% across India in 2020, according to a Google report.

The findings come amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in remote working becoming the norm for many.

Google’s annual ‘Year in Search’ report for 2020 showed that Indians are adopting a new willingness to try new things online.

Searches for ‘online doctor consultations’ also grew by 300%, with the majority of searches coming from Manipur, Bihar and Karnataka.

The search data in Google’s report, titled ‘India’s determined progress’, also showed the increasing number of digital users in tier 2, 3, and 4 locations, as well as rural India.

Therefore, this has led to an increase in the importance of the 3 Vs – voice, video and vernacular.

The 3 Vs trend was first established in 2017 for a wide range of purposes, underpinned by a preference for the mother tongue.

According to the report, a unique 30% surge in queries for ‘learn’ exemplifies the clear shifts in user behaviour.

Google said that ‘Learning anything, anywhere’ is one of three major user behaviour changes to have emerged.

These changes are based on trends spanning from Search to YouTube in 2020.

Google went on to say that searches for learning surpassed academic study.

Many searches focused on learning for career progression, upskilling, entrepreneurship and supplementary income.

The ‘Year in Search‘ report also found that four in five people went to YouTube to learn something new.

In a statement about their report’s findings, Google India’s Country Head and Vice President Sanjay Gupta said:

“It has also been a catalyst for massive changes, both in consumer behaviours online and in how businesses have pivoted to digital.

“The momentum has now been set for expanding and deepening this transformation, and to rethink our business models, approach, solutions, marketing and distribution to keep pace with India’s fast growing digital users.”

Elsewhere in Google’s report, ‘Local first’ was the second biggest theme.

This highlights the increasing demand and consumption of both local language content and local information.

The year 2020 saw Google Translate used over 17 billion times to translate web pages into Indic languages.

As well as that, over 90% of YouTube users preferred to watch content in Indic language.

According to the report, 2020 also saw a spike in a demand for ‘local news’, allowing users to stay up to date with their immediate surroundings.