AP/The News Tribune, Russ Carmack
This sometimes unearths not only the things people in those states think about a lot, but also the things they might be embarrassed to ask their fellow humans and would rather ask a machine.
With that in mind, real estate search site Estately combed through 11 years of Google search data to try and find the most embarrassing search terms each state Google more than others, creating a map of the results.
The definition of "embarrassing" is, of course, subjective. But a quick glance at the map Estately created shows that these terms have a fairly universal embarrassment factor. And the terms also, for better or worse, tell you a bit about the local flavor of each region.
Here are a few highlights from Estately's analysis of what terms each state in the US searches for disproportionately often (compared to other states):
ARIZONA: Is Obama American?
FLORIDA: Lunchables coupons / eyebrow piercing / Home Shopping Network / "A Good Day to Die Hard" (2014 movie) / tongue piercing / Warren Sapp (NFL player)
MICHIGAN: Bigfoot evidence / pyramid scheme / Little Caesars (pizza chain) / Lou Bega ("Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of)")
OKLAHOMA: Supernumerary nipple (third nipple) / ISIS videos / Toby Keith / pumpkin spice latte / Westboro Baptist Church
UTAH: Video game addiction / unicorn pictures / Razor scooter / mustache / Dilbert (comic strip) / traditional marriage
WASHINGTON: Socks in sandals / moving to Canada / Canada / Soylent (liquid meals)
And here's the full map: