About Hitwise

Hitwise is the leader in online competitive intelligence. Contact Hitwise to maximize your online marketing programs.

Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Hopkins - North America

Analyst Weblog

« Top 20 Web 2.0 Websites | Beijing Bests Turin Online Lured by Portals »

Search Value Determinants A Year On

August 07, 2008

About a year ago, we shared some lists of "search value determinants" to consider the language people use when they enter search queries. We looked at what Americans search using popular modifiers and I thought it would be interesting to see how that has changed one year on. (Here are the original posts for Asia-Pacific, the US and UK.

The following two tables show the most popular search terms that include the words "free", "cheap" and "discount" and for "prices", "deals" and "used.
Discount Cheap and Free.png
Prices deals and used.png

The broad themes for each of these qualifiers remains the same as last year with "discount" applying to consumer goods, "cheap" to travel, "free" to low price point items, "deals" to travel and "used" to books and cars.

Some interesting differences do exist. New words in the top 10 this year include "free porn" (at #1), "free porn videos", "cheap gas", "discount cigarettes", "cell phone deals", "laptop deals" and several queries about oil prices. Given the economic uncertainty (and skyrocketing cost of gas) the searches for "cheap gas" and "crude oil prices" aren't so surprising.

As for the others new entrants, perhaps as we cut back on spending we are turning to affordable luxuries.

Posted by Heather Hopkins at 09:29 AM | (0) | (0)
In Categories Search