Toyota Recall Among Top U.S. Search Queries in January

Following recall announcements for a number of its models in January, U.S. queries for the phrases “toyota” and “toyota recall” featured prominently in the top automotive-related searches for the month, according to data provided by Hitwise.

The automotive manufacturer is currently bidding against those keywords on both Google’s search product and Microsoft’s Bing engine, driving users to landing pages featuring further information on the recalls. As of today, however, a number of competitors in the space, including Mazda, Ford, Chrysler, and Hyundai are bidding on similar phrases with sales-related messaging.

Elsewhere, Facebook continued to dominate searches in the social networking space, attracting by far the most queries in that category.

Top 10 U.S. Search Terms by Category, January 2009 (%)
IT and Internet		Automotive Manufacturers
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
paypal	3.50	toyota	1.76
paypal.com	0.98	honda	1.35
people search	0.57	nissan	1.30
www.paypal.com	0.46	ford	1.25
reverse phone lookup	0.46	hyundai	1.02
people search free	0.41	toyota recall	1.01
paypal login	0.38	harley davidson	0.93
find people	0.35	ford motor company	0.92
paypal account	0.33	chevrolet	0.84
white pages	0.31	oreilly auto parts	0.80
Movies		Social Networking and Forums
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
netflix	5.01	facebook	10.41
netflix.com	1.28	facebook login	5.22
imdb	0.84	myspace	5.22
redbox	0.70	youtube	4.61
fandango	0.60	facebook.com	2.48
movies	0.60	myspace.com	1.70
free movies online	0.55	www.facebook.com	1.43
blockbuster	0.45	youtube.com	1.01
netflix queue	0.40	you tube	0.66
watch free movies online	0.33	www.myspace.com	0.57
Food and Beverage Brands and Manufacturers		Pharmaceutical and Medical Products
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
pizza hut	4.59	tylenol recall	0.48
dominos	2.21	alli	0.41
mcdonalds	1.37	alli weight loss	0.35
domino’s pizza	1.04	affordable dentures	0.35
starbucks	0.79	fibromyalgia	0.29
subway	0.76	phentermine	0.24
dominos pizza	0.54	lexapro	0.24
burger king	0.54	myalli.com	0.23
pizza hut coupons	0.53	depression	0.22
mycokerewards.com	0.47	viagra	0.21
Blogs and Personal Web Sites		Broadcast Media
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
youtube	0.47	cnn	2.48
perez hilton	0.28	fox news	2.38
bossip	0.24	msnbc	1.10
myspace	0.20	cnn.com	1.03
facebook	0.19	foxnews.com	0.99
blogspot	0.15	news	0.74
tumblr	0.13	abc news	0.59
myspace login	0.13	cnn news	0.54
thisis50	0.13	bbc news	0.51
aol	0.12	ksl.com	0.34
Shopping Rewards and Directories		Travel Destinations and Accommodations
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
marlboro.com	0.39	carnival cruise	0.59
coupons	0.26	hotels.com	0.53
coupons.com	0.22	disney world	0.45
consumer reports	0.19	royal caribbean	0.31
bed bath and beyond	0.11	disneyland	0.27
printable coupons	0.10	great wolf lodge	0.22
free stuff	0.10	walt disney world	0.20
free samples	0.09	trip advisor	0.19
walmart	0.08	princess cruises	0.17
grocery coupons	0.08	vrbo	0.16

Hitwise, a subsidiary of Experian, monitors how more than 25 million Internet users, including 10 million in the United States, interact with over 1 million Web sites across more than 160 industry categories. It collects Internet usage information through a combination of ISP data partnerships and opt-in panels. Data are collected in accordance with local and international privacy legislation and are audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers.