2017 was a year unlike any other in Major League Soccer. But just who left a lasting impression?
Well, Google recently announced its top 10 trending MLS teams of 2017 as part of their annual "Year in Search," a showcase of the people, topics, places and events that drew the most attention throughout the year.
Who were they? Well, take a look for yourself:
- Atlanta United FC
- Orlando City SC
- Portland Timbers
- Sporting Kansas City
- Columbus Crew SC
- Houston Dynamo
- Chicago Fire Soccer Club
- Real Salt Lake
- San Jose Earthquakes
- D.C. United
One important thing to note: This is a list of searches that had the highest traffic spikes in 2017 compared to 2016, rather than the highest rates of overall Web traffic. So teams that saw a big on-field improvement or lots of news off the field -- such as personnel changes, stadium news, etc. -- may have been more likely to incite increased traffic compared to the year before.
According to google, their Year in Search is an annual look into the year's top trending Google searches. In compiling the 2017 Year in Search, they looked at the aggregation of trillions of search queries over the year. They used data from Google Trends and filtered out spam and repeat queries to build lists that best reflect the spirit of 2017.