• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 24, 2004

Most Popular Terms, Brands and Word Count Searches on the Internet

Hitwise reports that while eBay is the most visited online shopping and auction destination, it also is the most searched-for brand in the entire Shopping category. According to the four week Search Term Data study ending Sept. 25, 2004, the popularity of the term "ebay" dwarfs the level of search-engine queries for all other retailers fivefold or more.

"ebay" commanded 1.49 percent of queries across all major search engines that delivered traffic to Shopping and Classifieds sites. Meanwhile, "walmart" represented 0.28 percent of all searches; "best buy" 0.26 percent; "amazon.com" 0.24 percent; home depot 0.24 percent; and "target" 0.22 percent.

"Bill Tancer, Vice President of Research, says "Considering (the "ebay") massive consumer appeal, both small and mega online retailers should consider eBay not only as a competitor, but also as a potential partner in their ongoing customer acquisition and e-commerce strategies."

Among the top 50 brand-specific search terms delivering traffic to the shopping category, retailers dominated over product-specific brands. Highlights include:

- Fall sports make "sporting goods" the number-one product search term. And with Halloween approaching, "halloween costumes" was the second most popular search term.

- Eight of the top 50 product search terms included the word "books", driven largely by college students on the prowl for affordable texts.

- Fifty-two percent of search-engine queries delivering traffic to shopping sites included only one or two words.

Queries Resulting in Visits to Shopping & Classifieds Category

• 1 word 19.61%
• 2 words 32.40%
• 3 words 23.66%
• 4 words 12.67%
• 5 words 6.00%
• 6 words 2.79%
• 7 words 1.34%
• 8+ words 1.53%

Source: Hitwise U.S. Search Queries Report, Four Weeks Ending 09/25/04

Top 25 Search Terms By Brand & Product resulting in Visits to Shopping & Classifieds

	Brand/Navigation	Product
1	ebay	sporting goods
2	ebay.com	halloween costumes
3	walmart	consumer reports
4	best buy	books
5	amazon.com	used textbooks
6	home depot	used books
7	target	furniture
8	sears	auto parts
9	amazon	tires
10	circuit city	flowers
11	lowes	lingerie
12	www.ebay.com	college textbooks
13	ikea	prom dresses
14	barnes and noble	posters
15	dell	homecoming dresses
16	walmart.com	shoes
17	costco	digital cameras
18	target.com	coupons
19	ebay summary	free music downloads
20	bed bath and beyond	costumes
21	overstock.com	digital camera
22	blockbuster	music downloads
23	office depot	auctions
24	toys r us	engagement rings
25	babies r us	music

Source: Hitwise U.S. Data, Four Weeks Ending 09/25/04

Top 25 Shopping & Classifieds Web Sites

	Name	Domain	Market Share
1	eBay	www.ebay.com	24.71%
2	My eBay	my.ebay.com	10.77%
3	Amazon.com	www.amazon.com	3.08%
4	eBay Motors	www.ebaymotors.com	2.16%
5	Dell USA	www.dell.com	1.63%
6	eBay Stores	www.ebaystores.com	1.27%
7	Walmart.com	www.walmart.com	1.25%
8	Yahoo! Shopping	shopping.yahoo.com	1.14%
9	Target	www.target.com	1.02%
10	NexTag	www.nextag.com	0.89%
11	BestBuy.com	www.bestbuy.com	0.88%
12	BizRate.com	www.bizrate.com	0.72%
13	Ticketmaster	www.ticketmaster.com	0.65%
14	Sears.com	www.sears.com	0.61%
15	CircuitCity.com	www.circuitcity.com	0.59%
16	Shopping.com	www.shopping.com	0.57%
17	JC Penney	www.jcpenney.com	0.50%
18	QVC.com	www.qvc.com	0.49%
19	Overstock.com	www.overstock.com	0.48%
20	Sprint PCS	www.sprintpcs.com	0.47%
21	The Home Depot	www.homedepot.com	0.46%
22	eMachines	www.emachines.com	0.42%
23	Half.com	www.half.ebay.com	0.40%
24	Barnes & Noble.com	www.bn.com	0.37%
25	Publishers Clearing House	www.pch.com	0.36%

Source: Hitwise U.S. Data Week Ending 09/25/04