Grunt, Gangnam, Detroit,.. Doggy. Those aren’t really the styles I was expecting…

Maybe I’m too naïve or lost in some form of parallel romantic dimension but when I started researching “styles” for a brand new content project discussing trends in furniture, fashion, architecture, branding & design, I didn’t expect to come across the search queries I found on ahrefs (note: it’s not the first time I’m surprised by unexpected requests, read here what I found about cartoons).

To be fully honest, I didn’t even know what “grunt style” was. If you type this keyword into Google, you’ll come across a US-based e-commerce fashion site summed up by their baseline, all in bold capital letters: “PRIDE IN SELF, IN MILITARY AND IN COUNTRY“. Straightforward. This is the type of visual you’ll find on the home page, in the hero header, not really my cup of tea, or my style if you prefer.  But there’s clearly a market for this vibe.

I was surprised to see that, apparently, Gangnam Style is still a thing on Google. Psy’s K-Pop Mega Hit, which has been viewed more than 4B times on Google, was released 10+ years ago, in July 2012. 

We all know that pizza’s are the #1 fast food type and Americans particularly love pizzas, as confirmed by the popularity of a few pizza styles: detroit style pizza, brooklyn style pizza, chicago style pizza, etc. 

According  to Wikipedia, Detroit-style pizza, developed in 1946 at Buddy’s Rendezvous, is a rectangular pizza with a thick crust, both crispy and chewy. Here’s a picture of this iconic dish frol Detroit. 

“APA Style” is also a very US-centric concept. It’s a type of writing promoted by the American Psychological Association, aimed at “increasing the ease of reading comprehension” by codifying the components of scientific writing. You can give it a try on their website.

At position #7 in the styles leaderboard, we stumble upon “doggy style” which is apparently the most favourite sex position for men (whereas “reverse cowgirl” is favoured by women). I won’t insert an illustration, I guess you all know what we’re talking about. If not, head over to Wikipedia for some graphic details. In the same vertical, we also spot “swing life style” among the most popular style-related queries, with 26,000 curious requests per month. 

“smart style” and “boho style” are the first two examples of what I initially expected when I typed “style” into ahrefs Keyword Explorer. If you dig deeper into the list, you’ll come across a few psychological concepts such as “anxious attachment style” and “avoidant attachment style“. There are actually 4 attachment styles: secure, avoidant, disorganized and anxious. The style you’ll develop in early childhood is thought to have a lifelong influence on your behaviour. 

Then we have a few extra variants of men’s favourite position (for a more detailed leaderboard, here’s a piece from Women’s Health, illustrated by beautiful aquarel sketches). 

There’s a lot of food in the list, not on the light side: country style ribs, new york style cheesecake, ranch style beans,… be prepared to search for plus size style if you indulge too many of those cravings.

Is there any architectural style in this list?

Where are the Bauhaus, Victorian, Edwardian, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, etc. I was expecting to find in the list. Well… they’re not as popular as Grunt Style. If the latter proudly rakes in 149,000 monthly searches on Google USA, Art Deco Style generates 4,900 monthly requests, Art Nouveau 2,900, Bauhaus 1,300, Victorian 3,500 and Edwardian 400, a very niche style indeed. 

You won’t get the same volume of attention if you’re into vintage stuff but -style queries incl. “vintage” still generate a fair amount of interest. There are 33,321 keywords incl. vintage & style (the #1 long tail example being “vintage style engagement rings”, how romantic) for an overall volume of 94,000 monthly searches. There are 51,101 queries containing “art”, for a monthly volume of 137,000 searches. 

I thought I had a flair for style, I was quite off the mark 😉