• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 14, 2020

Valentine’s Day searches begin the day after Christmas, according to data released from Google on Friday. Searches build through January and spike on Feb. 13.

Spending for Valentine’s Day is estimated to reach $27.4 billion in 2020 -- up 32% from last year, according to the National Retail Federation. The NRF data estimates consumers will spend an average of $196.31, up 21% compared with a year ago.

It seems women are more giving on Valentine’s Day, according to 2019 data. Search terms in Google include some variations of the keyword phrases for men such as gifts for husband, gift for him, or gifts for boyfriend. They outnumber the keyword phrases related to gifts for women 3.5 to 1.

There are almost as many searches for the word "valentine" and "gifts" as there are for those words on Valentine’s Day.

The search for GIFs occurs during a shorter time span. It really picks up the week leading up to the holiday and remains strong through Feb. 14.

It’s not all about buying a gift when the love comes from the heart. Searches for Valentine’s Day quotes exceed both GIFs and gifts, which is something Google suggests marketers keep in mind when they create content and ad copy.

The most searched question on Google during the past week leading up to Valentine’s Day: What is love? The most searches phrases include how to love yourself, how do you know when you love someone, how long does it take to fall in love, and how to tell someone you love them.

The most-searched gifts during the past week have been flowers, ecards, teddy bears, rose bear, and chocolate covered strawberries.

When it comes to recipes, cookies topped the list, followed by cakes, cupcakes, breakfast, and pizza.