Gasta Tech Update : Hitwise UK

Hitwise News on Gasta Search Network


Feature Article
Volcanic Ash Cloud - online travel impact

During the week ending 17/04/2010 UK Internet users searched for over 10,000 different terms containing the word 'volcano', up from less than 1,000 the week prior. The reason for this surge was the volcanic eruption in Iceland that caused travel chaos across Northern Europe. UK Internet visits to Aviation websites (a category which includes both airline and airport homepages) increased by 45% for the same week. Interestingly, however, there wasn't a noticeable spike in visits to Weather websites.

The top non-aviation fast moving travel search term was 'eurostar', and UK Internet visits to Eurostar.com increased by 67% last week. In France, traffic increased by 22%. The other two transport areas to benefit from the flight cancellations were ferry companies (traffic to the industry was up 59% last week) and car hire provides (up 9%).

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Fast Movers
About my vote - www.aboutmyvote.co.uk

Position for the w/e 03/04/2010: #1118
Position for the w/e 10/04/2010: #303
Positions jumped: 815

Following the announcement that the General Election will take place on May 6, UK Internet searches for the term 'register to vote' increased 9-fold between the week ending April 3 and April 10.

The biggest recipient of UK Internet traffic from searches for 'register to vote' for the w/e 10/04/10 was Aboutmyvote.co.uk, the official voter registration website. As a result, UK Internet visits to the site increased by 252%. Over the same period, About My Vote received traffic from a wide range of vote-related search terms, with 28% of its search traffic coming via paid or sponsored links on the major search engines.

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News In Brief
Leadership debate winners: Lib Dems, Sky News, ITV and Twitter
After grabbing a lot of media attention, the consensus view after the leadership debate is that Nick Clegg came out on top, and UK searches for the Liberal Democrat leader increased 7-fold (with nearly 1200 distinct search terms containing the phrase 'nick clegg'), overtaking David Cameron and Gordon Brown for the w/e 17/04/10. The 'Nick Clegg Effect' also had a positive impact on visits to the Liberal Democrats' homepage, with share of visits increasing from 26.2% to 31.2%.

Also benefitting from the event were Politics sites (3.6% increase in visits on April 16) and News and Media Sites with a 12.7% increase. BBC News and the BBC homepage maintained the top two spots, but the big winners were Sky News (visits up 76.9% April 18) and ITV (up 58.7%). Visits to Twitter also increased to a new high on April 16, becoming the 23rd most visited website in the UK.

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BBQ searches take off as the sunshine comes out

After a cold winter, it's no surprise that Brits have been anticipating the summer for a number of weeks now. Looking at the volume of searches for the terms 'bbq', 'bbqs' and 'barbeques'" all of which started to increase at the end of February, 'bbq' is the most popular keyword and attracts significantly more variations than the other terms. For the 4 weeks ending April 3, the top 10 (of almost 3,500) search terms containing 'bbq' were:

1. bbq (4.1% of all searches containing 'bbq')
2. weber bbq (3.1%)
3. gas bbq (2.2%)
4. outback bbq (1.5%)
5. webber bbq (1.1%)
6. cobb bbq (1.1%)
7. charcoal bbq (0.9%)
8. cadac bbq (0.9%)
9. gas bbq sale (0.9%)
10. weber bbq uk (0.9%)

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Promotion
Hot Consumer Electronics List
For the week ending 10th April 2010

Searches for Garden Equipment (3% of all product searches) were 49% up on the previous week. Whilst garden furniture, the most searched for garden product with 16.9% of all garden equipment searches, has seen less searches than the previous weeks peak, lawn mowers have seen a 48.9% increase in searches, with 12.6% of all garden searches. Flymo, Black & Decker and Bosch were the top three most searched for garden equipment brands.

Want to find out more?

The Hot Consumer Electronics List is a dynamic Excel-based report which leverages Hitwise's weekly search term data to produce an on-the-pulse view of the Consumer Electronics sector in the UK. Email marketing.uk@hitwise.com to find out how the Hot Consumer Electronics List helps marketers maximise PPC investment, assess and adjust search strategy to increase profits, maximise content appeal, effectively manage supply chains and improve campaign scheduling.

Upcoming Events
Luxury Interactive Global Conference
Luxury Interactive Global Conference
The Waldorf Hilton, London, May 18, 2010 - May 19, 2010

Visit the Experian Hitwise booth and join Robin Goad, Research Director - Experian Hitwise UK, during the Luxury Innovation Spotlight on Tuesday 18th May at 11:55 as he speaks about utilizing competitive intelligence to drive your luxury business.

Register here to receive a 25% discount.


Omniture Summit
The Hilton London Metropole, London, May 20, 2010 - May 21, 2010

Join Experian CheetahMail and Hitwise at this year's Omniture Summit. With the explosion of social media, video and mobile content, as well as ad dollars shifting online, today's marketers are faced with a great challenge: harnessing digital content to engage and acquire customers. At Summit EMEA 2010, learn how to create, measure and optimise digital experiences to revolutionise how the world will engage with ideas and information in the coming decade. Experience 2 jam-packed days of training and education from Omniture experts, customers and industry luminaries.

If you are interested in using Hitwise content and statistics in publications and presentations, we encourage you to do so. Please source the content as "Hitwise United Kingdom - www.hitwise.com/uk".