• May 13, 2009

Paid search traffic fell to 7.25% in the four weeks leading to May 9, from 9.84% in the year-ago period, according to Hitwise. The research firm released numbers Wednesday that suggests the trend is apparent across 16 of the 17 categories Hitwise monitors such as Automotive, Food and Beverage, Health and Medical. The only category that didn't see a decline in paid traffic was Education, which received 1.45% of search visits from paid clicks compared to 1.39% last year.

The share of paid clicks to Insurance websites fell 22% for the year; Retail 500, 20%; and Travel Agencies, 25%. The consistent decline across categories indicates this is not an isolated or seasonal variance, Heather Hopkins writes on the company's blog. Even more extreme, 0.83% of searches for "home depot" went to a paid listing in the four weeks to May 9, compared with 39.06% in 2008. -- Laurie Sullivan