---
title: "Rick Steves: search popularity worldwide"
description: "Rick Steves is a travel guide platform. Branded searches tell you how often people look for a brand by name or related terms. Comparing these searches across competitors helps you see how popular each brand is over time."
canonical: "https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/brands/rick-steves"
publisher: "Brandwave"
---

# Rick Steves: search popularity worldwide

Rick Steves is a travel guide platform. Branded searches tell you how often people look for a brand by name or related terms. Comparing these searches across competitors helps you see how popular each brand is over time.

## Key facts

- **Brand**: Rick Steves
- **Market**: Global
- **Measured month**: Sep 2026
- **Share of Search among travel guide platforms**: 1.7%

## Where the brand sits

| Competitive set | Rank | Share of Search | Estimated monthly branded searches |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Travel guide platforms | 7 | 1.7% | 90.5K |

- [Travel guide platforms](/demand/global-en/categories/travel-guide-platforms)

## Top travel guide platforms in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews

In three ChatGPT questions and two Google AI Overviews, Rick Steves was mentioned in three out of five: in two of the three ChatGPT answers and in one of the two Google AI Overviews. Rick Steves is the third most recommended of the nine.

Brands get a higher AI rank if they are mentioned earlier in the answers that list options.

| Brand | AI rank | ChatGPT answers that named it | Google AI Overviews that named it | All answers that named it |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Lonely Planet | 1st | 3 of 3 | 2 of 2 | 5 of 5 |
| Wanderlog | 2nd | 2 of 3 | 1 of 2 | 3 of 5 |
| Rick Steves | 3rd | 2 of 3 | 1 of 2 | 3 of 5 |
| Tripadvisor | 4th | 2 of 3 | 0 of 2 | 2 of 5 |
| Atlas Obscura | 4th | 2 of 3 | 0 of 2 | 2 of 5 |
| Culture Trip | 6th | 1 of 3 | 0 of 2 | 1 of 5 |
| Rome2Rio | 7th | 1 of 3 | 1 of 2 | 2 of 5 |
| Time Out | 8th | 1 of 3 | 0 of 2 | 1 of 5 |
| Wikivoyage | Not ranked | 0 of 3 | 0 of 2 | 0 of 5 |

## Every AI answer about travel guide platforms

- Asked ChatGPT "Which travel guide platform should I use?": 1. Wanderlog, 2. Lonely Planet
- Asked ChatGPT "What are the best travel guide platforms?": 1. Lonely Planet, 2. Tripadvisor, 3. Wanderlog, 4. Atlas Obscura, 5. Culture Trip, 6. Rick Steves, 7. Time Out, 8. Rome2Rio
- Asked ChatGPT "What's the best travel guide platform for trip ideas?": 1. Lonely Planet, 2. Atlas Obscura, 3. Tripadvisor, 4. Rick Steves
- Searched Google, AI Overview "travel guide sites": 1. Lonely Planet, 2. Wanderlog, 3. Rome2Rio
- Searched Google, AI Overview "best travel guide": 1. Rick Steves, 2. Lonely Planet

Not named in any answer: Wikivoyage.

Brands are listed in the order each answer named them. The answers were collected in the United States on October 21, 2026.

## How has branded search demand for Rick Steves changed worldwide over the last 12 months?

- Across the 12 months ending September 2026, estimated monthly branded searches for Rick Steves worldwide fell from 110K to 90.5K.
- Across the 12 months ending September 2026, Rick Steves’ share of searches among travel guide platforms worldwide peaked at 2.5% in December 2025 and was lowest at 1.5% in June 2026.

## How did search popularity change for travel guide platforms worldwide in September 2026?

- In September 2026, Lonely Planet overtook Atlas Obscura and Rick Steves to rank 5th among travel guide platforms worldwide, with 2.1% of the searches.
- In September 2026, Time Out overtook Wanderlog to rank 3rd among travel guide platforms worldwide, with 4.7% of the searches.
- In September 2026, Wanderlog gained share of searches among travel guide platforms worldwide, from 4% to 4.7%.
- In September 2026, Tripadvisor lost share of searches among travel guide platforms worldwide, from 80.4% to 77.8%.
- Estimated monthly branded searches for Culture Trip worldwide fell 34.1% over 12 measured months, from 4.4K to 2.9K in September 2026.
- Estimated monthly branded searches for Rome2Rio worldwide fell 18.2% over 12 measured months, from 450K to 368K in September 2026.

## Historical estimated branded-search demand

| Month | Competitive set | Estimated monthly branded searches | Share of Search | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Oct 2025 | Travel guide platforms | 110K | 2.1% | 7 |
| Nov 2025 | Travel guide platforms | 110K | 2.1% | 7 |
| Dec 2025 | Travel guide platforms | 110K | 2.5% | 6 |
| Jan 2026 | Travel guide platforms | 110K | 2.1% | 6 |
| Feb 2026 | Travel guide platforms | 90.5K | 1.7% | 7 |
| Mar 2026 | Travel guide platforms | 135K | 2.4% | 6 |
| Apr 2026 | Travel guide platforms | 110K | 2% | 6 |
| May 2026 | Travel guide platforms | 110K | 1.8% | 7 |
| Jun 2026 | Travel guide platforms | 90.5K | 1.5% | 7 |
| Jul 2026 | Travel guide platforms | 110K | 1.8% | 7 |
| Aug 2026 | Travel guide platforms | 110K | 1.8% | 6 |
| Sep 2026 | Travel guide platforms | 90.5K | 1.7% | 7 |

## How are Rick Steves’ branded searches counted?

Brandwave collects information about searches that people make online using Rick Steves’ name. When viewed over time, estimated search volumes for this branded term can be used to understand whether interest in the brand is growing, holding steady, or fading.

- “rick steves”

## Which travel guide platforms compete with Rick Steves?

- [Tripadvisor](/demand/global-en/brands/tripadvisor)
- [Rome2Rio](/demand/global-en/brands/rome2rio)
- [Time Out](/demand/global-en/brands/time-out)
- [Wanderlog](/demand/global-en/brands/wanderlog): Head-to-head: /demand/global-en/compare/rick-steves-vs-wanderlog
- [Lonely Planet](/demand/global-en/brands/lonely-planet): Head-to-head: /demand/global-en/compare/lonely-planet-vs-rick-steves
- [Atlas Obscura](/demand/global-en/brands/atlas-obscura): Head-to-head: /demand/global-en/compare/atlas-obscura-vs-rick-steves
- [Wikivoyage](/demand/global-en/brands/wikivoyage): Head-to-head: /demand/global-en/compare/rick-steves-vs-wikivoyage
- [Culture Trip](/demand/global-en/brands/culture-trip): Head-to-head: /demand/global-en/compare/culture-trip-vs-rick-steves

## Methodology

- [How is the Brand Demand Index measured?](/demand/methodology): Where the figures come from, what they compare, and how they may be reused.

## Cite this page

Brandwave. "Rick Steves: search popularity worldwide". https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/brands/rick-steves

This page is also available as HTML at https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/brands/rick-steves. Brandwave publishes an index of its Markdown pages at https://gobrandwave.com/llms.txt.
