Our top food searches are so Canadian, eh

Alas, Google has proven some Canadian stereotypes are grounded in truth.

The search engine’s Zeitgeist 2012 list revealed that Canucks had bacon, poutine and maple syrup on their minds this year.

Pause for giddy laughter from our neighbours to the south...

Those three delicious (but hardly healthy) foods topped our country's list of the most-searched Canadian food terms in 2012.

Also on the list (in order) were yorkshire pudding, bannock, smoked meat and Kraft Dinner.

Google’s study does not necessary mean Canadians are consuming more of these foods.

For example, pork consumption has steadily declined since 1981 from 31.2 kilograms per person to 23.4 in 2009, according to data from Statistics Canada.

Intake of maple syrup, on the other hand, saw a drastic uptick in 2009. The average Canadian consumed 0.2 kilograms that year, the highest level since 1984.

According to the same Statistics Canada report, yogurt, wine and tea were among the categories with the most dramatic consumption increases.

All of this to say: our search engine histories are not the windows to our stomachs, eh?

But Google’s search results sure can have an impact.

The search engine’s research shows that, when a CPG company uses paid search, brand-name products get an average 3.1 per cent lift in offline sales.

With that, continues the report, is a corresponding decline in private label sales by two per cent.

Most searched retail terms

Google also cracked open Canadian’s search engine histories to uncover the most popular retail search terms.

The top three, in order, are eBay, Craigslist and Canadian Tire.

None of the companies that made the Top 10 are dedicated grocers, but a few have food departments: Walmart comes in fourth, while Costco takes the number eight spot.

For a complete list of the most frequently searched terms and phrases, click here.