Alberta Party saw a spike in Google searches during and after leaders' debate

It might have been therelatively unfamiliar party name, or possibly that zinger from Stephen Mandel about "smoking things that you shouldn't have been smoking."

Either way, Albertans collectively turned to Google to search for"Alberta Party" during and after the leaders' debate last week.

Interest in the party surged more than interest in the Liberal Party, the UCP and the NDPon Thursday, according to GoogleTrends, which tracks the popularity of search terms and ranks them on a scale from zero to 100.

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During the debate, Alberta Party scored 100, Liberal Party scored 48, UCPscored 38and NDP scored 29 among queries originating from Alberta.

Searches for "Alberta Party" remained ahead of those for the other parties, even when taking into account spelling and name variations such as "Alberta New Democrats" and "United Conservative Party."

• Interruptions, accusations dominate Alberta election debate

"The other thing that's interesting is that post-debate, Alberta Party interest stayed higher than the other parties," said Dana DiTomaso, president of the Edmonton-based digital marketing firm Kick Point.

The results seem to suggest the party benefited most from the participation of Mandel, the Alberta Party's leader, DiTomaso told CBCRadio's Edmonton AM.

"I think they're keeping that momentum,which is key," she said.

"You can say something funny during the debate, like David Khan who has hats he'sselling now with'#LayingPipe' on them, but Idon't necessarily think that the momentum is staying though, whereas the Alberta Party is definitely keeping that momentum."

Kenney remains most searched leader

While Liberal Leader David Khan enjoyed a small bump in interest after the debate, UCP Leader Jason Kenney remains the most searched-for leader of any party.

Spike in searches for Adler interview

Four of the five top breakout related searches for Jason Kenneyinvolved his radio interview with Charles Adler, during which the Global broadcaster grilled Kenney about the UCP'saffiliation with homophobic and anti-choice rhetoric.

Many Albertans also turned to Google to look up the party leaders' ages. "David Khan age," "Stephen Mandel age" and "How old is Jason Kenney" are all listed among the breakout related queries.