The Burj Khalifa is the most Googled landmark of 2024 worldwide, a new study has found.
The travel experts at Abu Dhabi Tours from Dubai analysed Google search volume data from December 2023 until November 2024 on 150 of the most popular landmarks worldwide. Each destination was ranked based on the highest number of average monthly searches across the globe.
Table: The most Googled landmarks in the world
| Rank | Landmark | Global monthly search volume |
| 1 | Burj Khalifa | 1,120,000 |
| 2 | Machu Picchu | 961,000 |
| 3 | Taj Mahal | 905,000 |
| 4 | Eiffel Tower | 865,000 |
| 5 | Grand Canyon | 752,000 |
| 6 | Statue of Liberty | 653,000 |
| 7 | Mount Everest | 637,000 |
| 8 | Stonehenge | 616,000 |
| 9 | Big Ben | 583,000 |
| 10 | Buckingham Palace | 577,000 |
| 11 | Niagara Falls | 568,000 |
| 12 | Empire State Building | 551,000 |
| 13 | Colosseum | 490,000 |
| 14 | Petra | 417,000 |
| 15 | Chichen Itza | 390,000 |
| 16 | Central Park | 367,000 |
| 17 | Angkor Wat | 343,000 |
| 18 | Yosemite National Park | 329,000 |
| 19 | Tower Bridge | 324,000 |
| 20 | Mount Rushmore | 295,000 |
The Burj Khalifa is Googled more often than any other landmark in the world, averaging 1.12 million searches every month. The 2,717-foot-tall building in Dubai attracts more than double the volume of monthly searches than New York City’s iconic skyscraper, the Empire State Building (551,000).
Machu Picchu places second and is the only South American landmark to feature in the top 20. The famous ancient Inca ruins are Googled more than any landmark on the continent, averaging 961,000 monthly searches. The site averages almost 800,000 more searches every month than Venezuela’s Angel Falls, the world’s tallest uninterrupted waterfall.
The Taj Mahal ranks third overall in the study. Second only to the Burj Khalifa in Asia, the Indian UNESCO World Heritage Centre is searched for an average of 905,000 times per month, totalling over 10 million searches annually.
Europe’s most Googled landmark is the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris. People online search for the tourist attraction an average of 865,000 per month, almost 250,000 more than any other landmark in the continent. While in France, the next most popular landmark is the Arc de Triomphe, averaging 278,000 monthly searches.
The Grand Canyon in Arizona takes the fifth spot in the ranking with 752,000 average monthly searches. It is one of eight North American landmarks to feature in the top 20, with four found in the state of New York. The Statue of Liberty comes in sixth, averaging a monthly search volume of 653,000, followed by Niagara Falls in 11th with 568,000 searches per month on average, as well as the Empire State Building (551,000) and Central Park (367,000).
Three of the UK’s most iconic landmarks secure eighth, ninth, and tenth spots. Stonehenge is the most Googled landmark in the UK (616,000 average monthly searches), closely followed by Big Ben (583,000) and Buckingham Palace (577,000).
Despite not ranking in the top 20 most Googled landmarks, Edinburgh Castle in Scotland has more average monthly searches (272,000) than San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge (271,000) and the Great Wall of China (257,000).
Magdalena Petrusic, a Travel Expert from Abu Dhabi Tours from Dubai, commented on the study: “It is interesting which global landmarks attract the most attention from people online, with sites in North America, Europe and Asia proving particularly popular.
“New York City and London are some of the world’s best hotspots for landmarks, with six of the top 20 most Googled landmarks found in either city. Despite sites of natural beauty featuring high in the study, man-made structures prove more popular, with three-quarters of the 20 most Googled landmarks recognised as man-made.”