The fourth quarter is a serious time of year. Corporate revenue goals hang in the balance, waistlines are challenged by holiday parties, and people are so worried about getting good deals they actually camp out in front of their local retail superstores. Pretty stressful times, right?
Fortunately not everything in life has to be taken so seriously. To help lighten everyone's mood, let's have ourselves a little bit of a 2010 retrospective on the top search terms for the year using comScore's search data.
Although the professional success of many of us in the SEO/SEM community relies on search performance, that doesn't mean we can't take a minute to remember that search is just a big jumble and study of words; in essence, an enormous game of Scrabble: a game to find the words that will deliver you the highest score.
So in order to close out 2010 with a light but interesting collection of information for your grand Scrabble game, I've put together 10 Top 10 lists of search terms driving click-throughs to websites broken out by industry.
Most of the time we see top "searches" put out by the engines (see this year's lists for Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and AOL), but being that clicks are a better proxy for relevance (they were terms that got searchers to the destinations they were seeking), this will give you a slightly different version of lists to work through. All these lists are based on United States searchers and exclude Adult/XXX websites (just to keep it family oriented).
Top 10 Most Popular Search Clicks
Just one year ago, MySpace was No. 1 on this list. Some food for thought.
- YouTube
- Yahoo
- Yahoo Mail
- Craigslist
- Myspace
- Gmail
- Yahoo.com
- Hotmail
Top 10 Most Popular Retail Brands
We do like our one-stop shops.
- Netflix
- Walmart
- Amazon
- Home Depot
- Target
- Best Buy
- Lowes
- Sears
- Amazon.com
- QVC
Top 10 Automotive Clicks
I can never remember the right way to spell "Kelley" either.
- Autotrader
- Ebay Motors
- Ebay
- Cars.com
- Kelley Blue Book
- Kelly Blue Book
- Carmax
- Advance Auto Parts
- Honda
- Auto Trader
Top Health Clicks
In January all things weight loss related will spike. Happens every year.
- WebMD
- Web MD
- Weight Watchers
- Pill Identifier
- Kaiser Permanente
- Aetna
- KP.org
- Mayo Clinic
- P90X
- 24 Hour Fitness
Top Travel Clicks
Isn't it funny that "cheap" is a bad word right up until we want to get on an airplane?
- Southwest Airlines
- Expedia
- Delta Airlines
- Travelocity
- American Airlines
- Cheap Flights
- Priceline
- Continental Airlines
- Orbitz
- Cheap Tickets
Top Sports Clicks
Wrestling -- a true American sport.
- ESPN
- NFL
- MLB
- NFL.com
- ESPN.com
- WWE
- NBA
- FIFA
- Nascar
- Yahoo Sports
Top Paid Sports Clicks
Think they were advertising the World Cup in the U.S.?
- Foot Locker
- Eastbay
- Fantasy Football
- Footlocker
- World Cup 2010 Schedule
- Nascar
- World Cup 2010
- FIFA World Cup
- NCAA Basketball Tournament
- Lakers Schedule
Top 10 Entertainment Clicks
Does anyone still question if YouTube was a valuable purchase?
- Youtube
- You tube
- Youtube.com
- Hulu
- Comcast.net
- Pandora
- Youtube Broadcast Yourself
- Poptropica
- www.youtube.com
- Utube
Top 10 Non-branded Career Services & Development Clicks
Maybe "resume consultant" should be a more popular job in the marketplace.
- Jobs
- Job Search
- Resume Templates
- Government Jobs
- Resume
- Resume Examples
- Cover Letter Examples
- Resume Builder
- Job Search Engines
- Resume Samples
Top 10 Wikipedia.org Person Clicks
At least we're not obsessed with celebrities...
- Justin Bieber
- Lady Gaga
- Eminem
- Miley Cyrus
- Michael Jackson
- Gary Coleman
- Megan Fox
- Sandra Bullock
- Taylor Swift
- Corey Haim
I hope these lists gave everyone a little something to think about moving into 2011. Have a great holiday season and a Happy New Year!
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