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Hitwise Intelligence - Robin Goad - UK

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Paid search rates by industry

September 09, 2008

We launched our New Search Intelligence tool in the UK today and, amongst other enhancements, it includes additional paid / organic search data. One great new feature allows you to measure paid search rates by industry, so I thought I’d provide a preview here. The chart below illustrates the percentage of search traffic that came from paid clicks for a number of key industries during August (4 weeks ending 30/08/2008).

UK paid search rates insurance utilities retail travel banking automotive property government entertainment news and media industries 2008 chart.png

As you can see, the industries that rely most on paid search traffic are Insurance (45.0%) and Utilities (37.4%). Shopping & Classifieds and Travel both rely on paid clicks for a quarter of their search traffic, while Banks and Automotive are also above average users of paid search. News & Media and Entertainment are the least reliant on paid search, with even Government sites receiving a greater proportion of their search traffic from paid clicks.

As the Christmas retail season is nearly upon us, I also carried out the same exercise with the main retail sub-categories. As you can see from the chart below, Appliances & Electronics retailers are most reliant on paid search traffic, while Grocery and Alcohol are the least. Other types of retailer that are particularly reliant on paid search include House & Garden and Computers.

Paid search rates in retail gadgets electronics house garden computers fashion entertainment sport musci department stores toys food 2008 chart.png