May 22, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) in action against the Atlanta Dream in the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Caitlin Clark Dominates Search Map Despite Google Trends Noise

Originally posted on Women's Fastbreak on SI
By Grant Young | Last updated Dec 10, 2025 12:19 PM ET

Google recently released its annual "Year in Search" lists, which are Google's way of showing what internet search inquiries and trends received the biggest spike in interest throughout the year. One of the metrics that Google releases each year is the 10 most-searched athletes in the United States. And in 2025, the only women's athlete to earn a place on this list was Indiana Fever wing Sophie Cunningham, who came in at No. 7.

The fact that Cunningham made the list wasn't all that surprising, in and of itself. She went viral multiple times for her antics both on and off the court, and certainly had the biggest leap in stardom among women's basketball players compared to where she was in 2024. What was surprising to many was that Cunningham was more searched than her superstar Fever teammate, Caitlin Clark.

There's no question that a huge part of Cunningham's newfound popularity is owed to her proximity to Clark, who came in at No. 7 in this same Google most-searched athletes list in 2024. While Clark was limited to 13 regular season games because of injuries slowed down her stardom trajectory, it was still surprising to see Clark not included on this list. And this lent itself to questions about whether Clark's popularity has diminished.

New Search Metric Proves Caitlin Clark's Unparalleled Popularity

If the Google list raised any doubts about Clark's popularity, that can come to an end after Basketball Reference released its annual map showing their website's most-searched WNBA player in all 50 states, which was conveyed in a graphic from an X post from Myles Ehrlich of Winsidr.

The graphic shows that Clark was Basketball Reference's most-searched player in 41 of the 50 states. Chicago Sky star Angel Reese most-searched player in the other nine states.

Here are the 2025 @bball_ref most viewed player and team pages across the United States and Canada. Caitlin Clark is again a dominant search, with Angel Reese in second place, and Napheesa Collier huge in Nunavut. Similarly, the Indiana Fever are the popular team search. pic.twitter.com/l6XKd7XQJJ
— Myles (@MylesEhrlich) December 10, 2025

The key difference between Basketball Reference and Google searches is that the former pertains solely to basketball (what actually happens on the court, in other words), while the Google search is more about visibility and cultural buzz. This is why Cunningham, who was supremely buzz-worthy in 2025, beat Clark out on the Google search but is nowhere to be found on the Basketball Reference page.

It's worth noting that Clark had a clean sweep on Basketball Reference's same search metric for the 2024 WNBA season, as she was the most searched WNBA player in all 50 states last year.

It's easy to imagine Clark sweeping all 50 states once more in 2026 if she can stay healthy and lead the Fever to another deep postseason run.

This article first appeared on Women's Fastbreak on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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