Abstract: In the digital era, the internet has emerged as a critical conduit for public information acquisition and opinion expression. Network attention, serving as a quantifiable indicator of public interest and societal expectations, bears significant implications for policy evaluation and public engagement, particularly in the context of national park development. Drawing on over 15.99 million data points from Baidu, Douyin and Toutiao(2011—2024), this study systematically analyzes the spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics and influencing factors of network attention toward China′s national parks from a broad public perspective, while also discussing the thematic variations in public searches related to national parks. The aim is to identify policy avenues that enhance public interest and participation in national parks. The main findings are as follows: (1) The network attention to national parks exhibits an overall fluctuating upward trend, which can be divided into two rising phases and one rapid decline phase, reflecting an evolutionary pattern of "rapid growth-rational adjustment-steady development", with public interest shifting from a macro-level proposition to the specific development of national parks. There is significant differentiation in attention across different national parks, which can be categorized into emergency-driven type and spontaneous reputation-driven type according to the characteristics of change. (2) The spatial pattern of network attention exhibits an "east-central-west gradient decline" decreasing gradient, with core cities exhibiting high levels of attention and a pronounced regional clustering of high-value areas. Since 2011, regional differences have undergone three stages of expansion, equilibrium and further expansion. It is recommended to prioritize high-attention but low-per-capita large cities for more cost-effective promotion based on the division of four types of urban governance. (3) The public interest focuses on specific national parks and ecological protection topics, indicating a strong propensity for actual visits, which underscores the dual roles of national parks as both protected areas and tourist destinations. Topic dissemination exhibits a segmented trend, with user preferences for national parks varying across platforms in accordance with each platform′s tonality. It is required to build accurate communication strategies to match the characteristics of the media. (4) Geographical distance exerts a negative effect on network attention, while differences in natural environment have no significant effect. In addition to fundamental factors such as economy, education, digitalization and innovation, short-term elements like living environments and publicity intensity are also crucial, indicating that local governments can effectively enhance public attention through tailored strategies.