The internet can be a dark and scary place. But it can give a glimpse as to how human minds work.
As a result, we conducted a study into worrying internet crime searches, just to see the way human minds were working.
To conduct the study I used the internet SEO tool known as Ahrefs.
This tool uses search data to find out what people are typing into Google.
Let's dive in to see what people are searching for.
How We Conducted the Study
If you would like to learn more about how we gained this data please click the button.
Worrying Internet Search Terms
With regards to the data we have uncovered I have split this research into 2 categories.
The first is 'worrying search terms'. These terms were uncovered during our research and paint a concerning picture about the types of behaviour that is ongoing online. These searches tend to be geared towards criminal behaviour
The second aspect of our research was on more generic criminal searches. This data came up but it can be explained far more easily and does not necessarily mean an interest in committing these crimes.
First on our list is the worrying search terms.
Rape Porn
Shockingly there are 326,000 searches per month for the term 'Rape Porn'.
103,000 searches for Rape Porn come from the United States, making up 31% of that figure.
21,000 searches come from the United Kingdom.
How To Rape
Worryingly there are over 2000 searches per month for the term 'How to rape'.
33% of these come from India and 165 from the United States.
There are at least 3% of these searches coming from Australia.
How To Rape a Man
More than 250 times a month, the search term 'How to rape a man' is entered.
100 of these searches originate from the United States and 80 from India, 30 from the United Kingdom and 10 from Canada.
How To Stalk Someone
Worryingly the term 'How to stalk someone' receives 500 searches per month.
150 of these are in the United States, 80 in the United Kingdom and 70 in Australia.
How To Shoplift
There are 900 searches per month on the term 'how to shoplift'.
80 of these are in the UK, 600 in the US with the remainder in other nations.
Interestingly the term 'How to shoplift expensive items gains 300 searches per month, all of which are from the United States.
How To Steal
There are 1800 searches globally for the term how to steal.
61% of these are from the USA, 11% UK, 5% Australia and Canada, with 1% coming from the Netherlands.
How To Steal Money
Over 600 searches per month are made for the term 'how to steal money' with 50% of those coming via the US.
Rather concerning is that the results on Google are actually for articles teaching people to steal.
General Crime Search Volume
Why These Figures Are Not What They Seem
These searches are related to more broad terms and as such can be people conducting online research, searching for further information or even looking for TV shows or films.
Shoplifting:
Shoplifting accounts for 31,000 searches per month.
with 7,700 searches coming in the United States, 3600 coming in India, 2000 from the UK and the remainder from other nations.
Kidnapping:
There are 42,000 global searches per month for the term kidnapping.
15,000 or 35% of them come from the United States, 10% France, 6% India, 5% from the Philippines, 4% from the United Kingdom and 4% from Canada.
Rape:
There are 321,000 searches per month for the search term Rape.
71,000 or 22% of that volume comes from the United States. 13% from India, 6% from Spain and 5% (12,000 searches)come from the United Kingdom.
Murder:
There are 295,000 searches for the term 'Murder' each month online.
With 29% of searches coming from the United States, 14% came from France, 7% of searches came from Turkey, and 5% came from the UK.
Conclusion
With this data we have seen that the internet is a dark place and indeed some worrying searches do happen.
The question is.
Should these searches be banned from being entered into search engines?
That is a larger debate.
Thanks for reading