| Jan-08 | Jan-09 | % Change | |
| Total Internet | 6,219 | 6,795 | 9 |
| Yahoo! Sites | 3,096 | 3,489 | 13 |
| Google Sites | 2,481 | 2,596 | 5 |
| Rakuten Inc | 111 | 153 | 38 |
| Microsoft Sites | 119 | 113 | -5 |
| NTT Group | 93 | 103 | 11 |
| Amazon Sites | 80 | 69 | -14 |
| Excite Japan | 11 | 52 | 362 |
| NEC Corporation | 58 | 44 | -25 |
| MIXI | 40 | 23 | -42 |
| Nifty Corporation | 19 | 22 | 14 |
| Source: comScore | |||
Growth in Search Terms Related to Economic Downturn in December 2008
| Search Term | Dec-2007 | Dec-2008 | % Change |
| “Coupons” | 7,637 | 19,921 | 161% |
| “Unemployment” | 2,688 | 8,214 | 206% |
| “Discount” | 6,271 | 7,928 | 26% |
| “Mortgage” | 4,518 | 7,756 | 72% |
| “Bankruptcy” | 1,012 | 2,589 | 156% |
| “Foreclosure” | 824 | 1,373 | 67% |
| “Unemployment Benefits” | 215 | 748 | 247% |
| Source: comScore | |||
Share of US search engines in February 2009
| Core Search Entity | Jan-09 | Feb-09 | Point Change Feb-09 vs. Jan-09 |
| Total Core Search | 100.0 | 100.0 | N/A |
| Google Sites | 63.0 | 63.3 | 0.3 |
| Yahoo! Sites | 21.0 | 20.6 | -0.4 |
| Microsoft Sites | 8.5 | 8.2 | -0.3 |
| Ask Network | 3.7 | 4.1 | 0.4 |
| AOL LLC | 3.9 | 3.9 | 0.0 |
| Source: comScore | |||
Number of searches among leading US search engines in February 2009
| Core Search Entity | Jan-09 | Feb-09 | Growth, MTM |
| Total Core Search | 13,496 | 13,104 | -3% |
| Google Sites | 8,497 | 8,293 | -2% |
| Yahoo! Sites | 2,836 | 2,696 | -5% |
| Microsoft Sites | 1,146 | 1,073 | -6% |
| Ask Network | 497 | 536 | 8% |
| AOL LLC | 520 | 507 | -3% |
| Source: comScore | |||
Top US search engines in February 2009
| Provider | Searches (000) |
YOY Growth |
Share of Searches |
| All Search | 8,494,653 | 10.1% | 100.0% |
| Google Search | 5,394,190 | 19.2% | 63.5% |
| Yahoo! Search | 1,415,354 | 4.0% | 16.7% |
| MSN/Windows Live Search | 881,050 | 2.4% | 10.4% |
| AOL Search | 320,098 | -19.9% | 3.8% |
| Ask.com Search | 162,226 | -16.9% | 1.9% |
| My Web Search | 55,772 | -21.6% | 0.7% |
| Comcast Search | 42,895 | 1.3% | 0.5% |
| Yellow Pages Search | 37,636 | N/A* | 0.4% |
| AT&T Worldnet Search | 17,371 | -27.6% | 0.2% |
| Dogpile.com Search | 15,880 | -28.9% | 0.2% |
| Source: Nielsen | |||
Top search engines in February 2009
| Expanded Search Entity | Jan-09 | Feb-09 | Growth, MTM |
| Total Expanded Search | 19,979 | 19,176 | -4% |
| Google Sites | 11,714 | 11,250 | -4% |
| 8,731 | 8,541 | -2% | |
| YouTube/All Other | 2,983 | 2,709 | -9% |
| Yahoo! Sites | 2,979 | 2,828 | -5% |
| Yahoo! | 2,952 | 2,804 | -5% |
| All Other | 27 | 23 | -13% |
| Microsoft Sites | 1,188 | 1,109 | -7% |
| MSN-Windows Live | 1,084 | 1,015 | -6% |
| Microsoft/All Other | 104 | 94 | -10% |
| AOL LLC | 781 | 761 | -3% |
| AOL Search Network | 452 | 439 | -3% |
| MapQuest/All Other | 330 | 322 | -2% |
| Ask Network | 645 | 678 | 5% |
| Ask.com | 317 | 384 | 21% |
| MyWebSearch.com/ All Other | 328 | 294 | -10% |
| eBay | 541 | 513 | -5% |
| Craigslist.org | 497 | 511 | 3% |
| Fox Interactive Media | 558 | 487 | -13% |
| MySpace | 550 | 479 | -13% |
| All Other | 8 | 7 | -10% |
| Facebook.com | 195 | 206 | 6% |
| Amazon Sites | 196 | 170 | -13% |
| Source: comScore | |||
Percentage of US searches among leading search engine providers
| Domain | Feb-08 | Jan-09 | Feb-09 | Growth, YTY |
| www.google.com | 66.47% | 72.09% | 72.11% | 8% |
| search.yahoo.com | 20.60% | 17.81% | 17.04% | -17% |
| search.msn.com | 6.95%* | 5.44%* | 5.56%* | -20% |
| www.ask.com | 4.16% | 3.31% | 3.74% | -10% |
| Source: Hitwise | ||||
Top stock ticker searches
| Rank | Search term | Company |
| 1 | siri | Sirius XM Radio Inc. |
| 2 | bac | Bank of America |
| 3 | ge | General Electric |
| 4 | pspm | Pure Spectrum Inc |
| 5 | cxac | Cross Atlantic Commodities Inc. |
| 6 | auy | Yamana Gold Inc. |
| 7 | gm | General Motors |
| 8 | c | Citibank |
| 9 | shld | Sears Holdings Corporation |
| 10 | ibm | IBM |
| Source: Hitwise | ||
US category upstream traffic from search engines and Google in February 2009
| Category | Percentage of category traffic from search engines – February 2009 |
Percent change in share of traffic from search engines – February2009- February 2008 |
Percentage of category traffic from Google – February2009 |
Percent change in share of traffic from Google – February2009- February2008 |
| Health and Medical | 46.52% | 4% | 34.06% | 16% |
| Travel | 36.24% | 10% | 27.08% | 22% |
| Shopping and Classifieds | 24.54% | -3% | 17.49% | 7% |
| News and Media | 21.79% | 2% | 15.88% | 13% |
| Entertainment | 26.41% | 9% | 18.61% | 23% |
| Business and Finance | 20.15% | 15% | 14.24% | 29% |
| Sports | 15.75% | 16% | 11.46% | 31% |
| Online Video | 35.64% | 24% | 26.88% | 41% |
| Social Networking | 17.29% | 10% | 11.30% | 25% |
| Source: Hitwise | ||||
43% of adults believe they are findable
How easy would it be to find out who you are from your social network profile?
| Adults | Teens | |
| Pretty easy to find me | 43% | 23% |
| Someone would have to work at it, but eventually they would find me | 33 | 40 |
| Very difficult for someone to find me | 20 | 36 |
| Source: Pew Internet Project | ||
Top-searched brands in the UK
| 1. Facebook | 2.39% |
| 2. YouTube | 1.57% |
| 3. eBay | 1.25% |
| 4. Bebo | 0.96% |
| 5. BBC | 0.86% |
| 6. Amazon | 0.47% |
| 7. Argos | 0.44% |
| 8. Sky | 0.27% |
| 9. Tesco | 0.26% |
| 10. Yahoo! | 0.26% |
Percentage of US clicks by number of keywords
| Subject | Feb-08 | Jan-09 | Feb-09 | Growth, YTY |
| One word | 21.04% | 20.29% | 20.48% | -3% |
| Two words | 24.73% | 23.65% | 23.47% | -5% |
| Three words | 21.84% | 21.92% | 21.68% | -1% |
| Four words | 14.53% | 14.89% | 14.98% | 3% |
| Five words | 8.29% | 8.68% | 8.72% | 5% |
| Six words | 4.38% | 4.65% | 4.71% | 8% |
| Seven words | 2.29% | 2.49% | 2.51% | 10% |
| Eight or more words | 2.90% | 3.43% | 3.47% | 20% |
| Source: comScore | ||||
Top US search engines in November 2008
| Provider | Searches (000) | YOY Growth | Share of Searches |
| All Search | 8,075,564 | 9.6% | 100.0% |
| Google Search | 5,177,158 | 21.7% | 64.1% |
| Yahoo! Search | 1,299,306 | -1.4% | 16.1% |
| MSN/Windows Live Search | 733,460 | -16.7% | 9.1% |
| AOL Search | 344,465 | 3.6% | 4.3% |
| Ask.com Search | 184,059 | -6.0% | 2.3% |
| My Web Search | 71,113 | -18.3% | 0.9% |
| Comcast Search | 40,645 | 3.5% | 0.5% |
| AT&T Worldnet Search | 25,351 | -13.3% | 0.3% |
| NexTag Search | 22,308 | -19.5% | 0.3% |
| Dogpile.com Search | 17,121 | -6.5% | 0.2% |
| Source: Nielsen | |||
Who searches for the keyword “unemployment”
| Term: “Unemployment” | Share of Clicks Following Search | Index |
| Age of Head of Household | ||
| 18-24 | 4.2% | 118 |
| 25-34 | 23.5% | 126 |
| 35-44 | 24.4% | 86 |
| 45-54 | 26.5% | 96 |
| 55-64 | 14.4% | 101 |
| 65+ | 7.1% | 90 |
| Household Income | ||
| <$25k | 12.2% | 130 |
| $25-49k | 23.5% | 123 |
| $50-74k | 26.2% | 97 |
| $75-99k | 14.4% | 81 |
| $100k+ | 23.7% | 89 |
| Search Engine | ||
| Google Search | 60.8% | 87 |
| Yahoo! Search | 23.3% | 121 |
| MSN-Windows Live Search | 10.0% | 172 |
| AOL Search | 2.3% | 76 |
| Ask.com Search | 3.6% | 156 |
| Source: comScore | ||
US category upstream traffic from search engines and Google in January 2009
| Category | Traffic from search engines – January 2009 | Growth in share of traffic from search engines – January 2009-January 2008 | Traffic from Google – January 2009 | Growth in share of traffic from Google – January 2009- January 2008 |
| Health and Medical | 44.76% | 1% | 31.91% | 11% |
| Travel | 36.29% | 9% | 27.09% | 21% |
| Shopping and Classifieds | 24.97% | -2% | 18.36% | 9% |
| News and Media | 21.25% | -3% | 15.46% | 11% |
| Entertainment | 25.85% | 7% | 17.26% | 21% |
| Business and Finance | 20.03% | 13% | 13.47% | 28% |
| Sports | 15.59% | 16% | 9.56% | 29% |
| Online Video | 34.16% | 23% | 24.70% | 42% |
| Social Networking | 17.54% | 18% | 11.89% | 38% |
| Source: Hitwise | ||||
Average US query size in January 2009
| Subject | Jan-08 | Dec-08 | Jan-09 | Growth, YTY |
| 1 word | 20.96% | 20.70% | 20.29% | -3% |
| 2 words | 24.91% | 24.13% | 23.65% | -5% |
| 3 words | 22.03% | 21.94% | 21.92% | 0% |
| 4 words | 14.54% | 14.67% | 14.89% | 2% |
| 5 words | 8.20% | 8.37% | 8.68% | 6% |
| 6 words | 4.32% | 4.47% | 4.65% | 8% |
| 7 words | 2.23% | 2.40% | 2.49% | 12% |
| 8+ words | 2.81% | 3.31% | 3.43% | 22% |
| Source: Hitwise | ||||
Top US search engines in January 2009
| Domain | January 2008 | December 2008 | January 2009 | Growth, YTY |
| www.google.com | 66.01% | 72.07% | 72.09% | 9% |
| search.yahoo.com | 20.95% | 17.79% | 17.81% | -15% |
| search.msn.com | 6.91% | 5.56% | 5.44% | -21% |
| www.ask.com | 4.21% | 3.15% | 3.31% | -21% |
| Source: Hitwise | ||||
Top US search engines and site-generated searches in January 2009
| Expanded Search Entity | Dec-08 | Jan-09 | Percent Change Jan-09 vs. Dec-08 |
| Total Expanded Search | 18,688 | 19,979 | 7% |
| Google Sites | 11,152 | 11,714 | 5% |
| 8,247 | 8,731 | 6% | |
| YouTube/All Other | 2,905 | 2,983 | 3% |
| Yahoo! Sites | 2,714 | 2,979 | 10% |
| Yahoo! | 2,686 | 2,952 | 10% |
| All Other | 28 | 27 | -4% |
| Microsoft Sites | 1,092 | 1,188 | 9% |
| MSN-Windows Live | 997 | 1,084 | 9% |
| Microsoft/All Other | 95 | 104 | 9% |
| AOL LLC | 740 | 781 | 6% |
| AOL Search Network | 424 | 452 | 7% |
| MapQuest/All Other | 316 | 329 | 4% |
| Ask Network | 620 | 645 | 4% |
| Ask.com | 308 | 317 | 3% |
| MyWebSearch.com/ All Other | 312 | 328 | 5% |
| Fox Interactive Media | 526 | 558 | 6% |
| MySpace | 516 | 550 | 7% |
| All Other | 10 | 8 | -20% |
| eBay | 500 | 541 | 8% |
| Craigslist.org | 387 | 497 | 28% |
| Amazon Sites | 204 | 196 | -4% |
| Facebook.com | 161 | 195 | 21% |
| Source: comScore | |||
Top US search engines by number of searches in January 2009
| Core Search Entity | Dec-08 | Jan-09 | Percent Change Jan-09 vs. Dec-08 |
| Total Core Search | 12,650 | 13,496 | 7% |
| Google Sites | 8,036 | 8,497 | 6% |
| Yahoo! Sites | 2,593 | 2,836 | 9% |
| Microsoft Sites | 1,055 | 1,136 | 8% |
| AOL LLC | 478 | 520 | 9% |
| Ask Network | 488 | 497 | 2% |
| Source: comScore | |||
Top US search engines in January 2009
| Core Search Entity | Dec-08 | Jan-09 | Point Change Jan-09 vs. Dec-08 |
| Total Core Search | 100.0 | 100.0 | N/A |
| Google Sites | 63.5 | 63.0 | -0.5 |
| Yahoo! Sites | 20.5 | 21.0 | 0.5 |
| Microsoft Sites | 8.3 | 8.5 | 0.2 |
| AOL LLC | 3.8 | 3.9 | 0.1 |
| Ask Network | 3.9 | 3.7 | -0.2 |
| Source: comScore | |||
Top news and media searches in February, 2009
| Rank | Search Term | Clicks |
| 1. | cnn | 0.58% |
| 2. | weather | 0.58% |
| 3. | fox news | 0.28% |
| 4. | drudge | 0.28% |
| 5. | drudge report | 0.26% |
| 6. | weather.com | 0.22% |
| 7. | weather channel | 0.20% |
| 8. | cnn.com | 0.19% |
| 9. | msnbc | 0.19% |
| 10. | news | 0.16% |
| Source: Hitwise | ||
Top retail search terms in February, 2009
| Rank | Search Term | Clicks |
| 1. | walmart | 1.53% |
| 2. | amazon | 1.33% |
| 3. | best buy | 0.93% |
| 4. | amazon.com | 0.80% |
| 5. | target | 0.77% |
| 6. | circuit city | 0.74% |
| 7. | home depot | 0.67% |
| 8. | lowes | 0.59% |
| 9. | sears | 0.53% |
| 10. | walmart.com | 0.43% |
| Source: Hitwise | ||
Top retail search terms in February, 2009
| Rank | Search Term | Clicks |
| 1. | craigslist | 3.60% |
| 2. | ebay | 2.26% |
| 3. | craigs list | 0.63% |
| 4. | walmart | 0.50% |
| 5. | amazon | 0.42% |
| 6. | craigslist.com | 0.34% |
| 7. | ebay.com | 0.31% |
| 8. | best buy | 0.30% |
| 9. | amazon.com | 0.26% |
| 10. | target | 0.26% |
| Source: Hitwise | ||
Top 10 Travel search terms in February, 2009
| Rank | Search Term | Clicks |
| 1. | mapquest | 2.90% |
| 2. | mapquest driving directions | 0.91% |
| 3. | southwest airlines | 0.89% |
| 4. | map quest | 0.83% |
| 5. | maps | 0.69% |
| 6. | google maps | 0.59% |
| 7. | google earth | 0.58% |
| 8. | travelocity | 0.56% |
| 9. | expedia | 0.48% |
| 10. | mapquest.com | 0.43% |
| Source: Hitwise | ||
Top search terms in February 2008
| Rank | Search Term | Clicks |
| 1. | myspace | 0.67% |
| 2. | craigslist | 0.57% |
| 3. | 0.38% | |
| 4. | ebay | 0.36% |
| 5. | youtube | 0.25% |
| 6. | myspace.com | 0.22% |
| 7. | yahoo | 0.17% |
| 8. | mapquest | 0.12% |
| 9. | craigs list | 0.10% |
| 10. | facebook login | 0.09% |
| Source: Hitwise | ||