The top search term for all of 2006 was MySpace according to online research and measurement firm Hitwise. MySpace related search terms had five spots in the top 10 across all categories. EBay and Yahoo held the number 3 and 4 spots respectively.
MySpace’s numerous positions in the top 10 are evidence of a solid brand. “Search term data is the closest proxy for what is on the minds of Internet user’s, and is a great measure of brand equity,” said Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise. “For example MySpace saw tremendous growth in traffic in 2006 which is a reflection of the increased brand equity for MySpace. MySpace related search terms accounted for half of the top 10 search terms to all sites in 2006.”
Other sites that made the top 10 over all categories were mapquest ranked at number 5 and the generic term “lyrics” at number 10. All other spots were taken by variations on MySpace and Yahoo.
In the entertainment category for movies, “Imdb” held the first spot with “Netflix” in second and the general term “movies” in the third position. The top athlete search terms were Michael Jordan in the number 1 spot followed by bittersweet Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro and Nascar driver Danica Patrick.
For television related search “weather” was the leader followed by “ESPN” and “weather.com”. The top television show search terms were “American Idol”, “Deal or No Deal” and “Days of Our Lives”.
The top destination search terms were Las Vegas, Six Flags and Walt Disney world.
The rankings are based on a sample of ten million U.S. Internet users and exclude search terms sending traffic to adult content.
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