Unemployed Searching
MARCH 4, 2009 Looking for a job?
It has gotten to the point where the financial turmoil offline is actually changing Americans’ search behavior online.
“Search engines are now woven so deeply into the fabric of daily life that it’s no surprise when people’s hopes and fears are reflected in what they search for,” said David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer. “One could likely predict popular search terms just by reading the headlines.”
According to comScore, searches for terms related to the economic downturn showed dramatic gains last year—especially terms associated with the deteriorating job market.
Searches using the terms “unemployment” and “unemployment benefits” were up over the previous year by 206% and 247%, respectively.
Other search words, more personal and dire, were up, too. During the month of December alone, “mortgage” had 7.8 million searches, “bankruptcy” 2.6 million, and “foreclosure” 1.4 million searches.
“Online behavior has come to reflect the interests or concerns of Americans—certainly with respect to the economic downturn,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “Search volume using terms relating to the economy has ballooned over the past year as Americans have become increasingly concerned over their economic wellbeing.”
Search tracking also shows how fast the country’s attention shifts.
A quick look at Google’s Top 100 Search Terms for February 24 did show “the new American tea party,” a reference to Rick Santelli’s CNBC rant against the stimulus package, in the No. 1 spot, but other than that—with the exception of “Ben Bernanke” at No. 80—no economy-related terms were listed. (“Thingamajig” held down the No. 100 slot.)
As users become more accustomed to searching, they are getting smarter about getting to where they want to go quicker—and using more words to direct their searches.
