UK searches focus on TV and Games

Tue 10 March 2009 11:06, Bas van den Beld

We reported last week that Facebook was the most searched for brand in the UK so far this year. The research was performed by Hitwise.

This research however shows us more than just brands. For example it also shows us subjects UK-searchers are searching for. Conclusion is that TV and Games are UK's most searched for subjects.

Hitwise looked at the search queries throughout all search engines in the UK during the last quarter of 2008. All non-branded terms were subtracted and attached to a subject area. This means that searches like "footbal' or 'tennis' were labelled as "sports" while "BBC" or "tv guide" were labelled as "TV". This way subjects can be subtracted from a large number of search queries.

The most searched for subjects in the UK turned out to be "TV" (14,2%), "Games" (13,5%) and "Travel" (10,5%).

Hitwise then looked at the different subjects. The subject "TV" for example shows us that terms like ‘x factor’, ‘strictly come dancing’, ‘eastenders’ and ‘tv listings’ were most searched for. Where as for the "games" subject people searched most for ‘games’, ‘free online games’, ‘car games’, ‘cooking games’ and ‘free games’.

Hitwise also spotted an interesting difference in the search engine used. They researched the five biggest UK search engines Google (.com and .co.uk), Yahoo, Live and Ask. On all subjects Google is the most used search engine, but there are a few subjects on which UK users tend to use other search engines. For example searches for "history" were mostly performed on Ask and a litlle on Live.

Look for more information on Hitwise' weblog.

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