Facebook Brand Attracts Significantly More Searches in U.K. than U.S.

Facebook continues to attract the lion's share of searches relating to online communities and chat services in the U.K., according to data from Experian Hitwise. Searches around the Facebook brand accounted for over a quarter of queries in that category during January, the measurement firm estimates.

However, that portion is far greater than in the U.S., where the term "facebook" accounted for just 10.41 percent of searches in January, and "facbook login" accounted for 5.22 percent. In the U.K., those terms attracted 22.14 percent and 6.12 percent of queries, respectively, in the online communities category.

Top 10 U.K. Search Terms by Category, January 2010 (%)
IT and Internet		Automotive Manufacturers
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
paypal	11.19	audi	1.87
broadband speed test	3.03	bmw	1.78
paypal uk	2.34	ford	1.61
anagram solver	1.01	vauxhall	1.36
paypal login	0.76	audi uk	1.31
pay pal	0.42	toyota	1.26
broadband speed	0.41	renault	1.11
paypal.co.uk	0.37	bmw uk	1.07
broadband speed checker	0.34	vw	1.04
speed test	0.33	mercedes benz	1.03
Movies		Net Communities and Chat
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
cineworld	3.14	facebook	22.14
imdb	2.12	facebook login	6.12
odeon	1.69	youtube	5.95
vue cinema	1.43	bebo	1.26
vue	1.34	you tube	1.24
lovefilm	1.29	fb	0.56
avatar	0.68	club penguin	0.45
odeon cinema	0.58	facebook.com	0.43
love film	0.57	twitter	0.41
blockbuster	0.57	utube	0.40
Food and Beverage Brands and Manufacturers		Pharmaceutical and Medical Products
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
dominos	5.78	boots	24.25
pizza hut	5.61	boots uk	5.78
mcdonalds	2.00	holland and barrett	3.47
domino's pizza	1.94	lloyds pharmacy	1.32
dominoes	1.37	boots.com	0.87
kfc	1.33	boots the chemist	0.82
makro	1.19	alli	0.81
dominos pizza	0.99	healthspan	0.72
special k	0.97	boots chemist	0.42
dominos pizza menu	0.97	simply supplements	0.32
Blogs and Personal Web Sites		Broadcast Media
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
facebook	0.53	bbc weather	3.72
perez hilton	0.38	bbc	2.13
just jared	0.31	bbc news	2.07
woman kills boyfriend by sitting on him	0.30	sky news	2.02
youtube	0.30	met office	1.66
bbc news	0.29	daily mail	1.26
blogger	0.26	weather	1.13
tumblr	0.24	the sun	0.88
fail blog	0.24	bbc sport	0.76
perez	0.21	itv player	0.75
Shopping Rewards and Directories		Travel Destinations and Accommodations
Search Term	Search Volume	Search Term	Search Volume
hotukdeals	0.75	travelodge	1.16
quidco	0.54	trip advisor	0.94
tesco clubcard	0.49	premier inn	0.75
voucher codes	0.39	tripadvisor	0.50
envirophone	0.38	centre parcs	0.44
kelkoo	0.36	tripadvisor uk	0.40
pricerunner	0.35	late rooms	0.30
hot uk deals	0.33	laterooms	0.28
which	0.33	holiday inn	0.28
virgin credit card	0.25	owners direct	0.27

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.