A bunch of people are frantically trying to figure out who a long-shot GOP presidential candidate is
Gilmore made his second appearance on the presidential debate stage Thursday night, in the so-called undercard, lower-tier affair.
He had not garnered enough support in national or early-state polling to qualify for all but one of the other six debate series.
The governor's appearance on the debate stage was clearly a boon for his name recognition.
As soon as Thursday's debate started, Gilmore became one of the top-Googled candidates. Google said searches for Gilmore were up more than 700%.
Gilmore wasn't just popular on Google - the former governor also dominated the social media conversation.
Twitter was abuzz about Gilmore, who a Twitter spokesman said become the No. 3 US trend on the social-media site during the undercard debate.
The Washington Post's Philip Bump also noted that more people have begun searching Gilmore's name on Google than rockstar Johnny Marr.