U.S. Searches on H1N1 and Swine Flu Double

H1N1 searches focus on vaccine while Swine Flu searches focus on symptoms;
CDC.gov and Wikipedia top Websites receiving traffic

New York, N.Y., Nov. 19, 2009 - Experian Hitwise announced today that U.S. searches on a portfolio of terms related to H1N1 and Swine Flu have increased 100 percent for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, 2009, compared with the previous four weeks.

Online searches on the term "h1n1" increased 115 percent while searches on "swine flu" increased 18 percent for the same time period. Searches continued to climb heading into November as Americans search for vaccine availability and learn more about the symptoms of the virus.

Top search terms containing "h1n1" and "swine flu"
The top search term containing "h1n1" was "h1n1 symptoms," receiving 15 percent of the search traffic. Among the top 100 search variations on "h1n1," 30 included the term "vaccine" in them and 23 included the term "symptoms." The top paid search terms were "h1n1 symptoms," "h1n1 vaccine" and "h1n1" for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, 2009. Paid search traffic on the term "h1n1 vaccine" increased 31 percent for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, compared with the previous four weeks. Paid search traffic on the term "h1n1" increased 4 percent for the same time period.

The top search term containing "swine flu" was "swine flu symptoms," receiving 20 percent of the search traffic on the term "swine flu". Among the top 100 search variations on "swine flu," 29 included the term "symptoms" in them and 9 included the term "vaccine." The top paid search terms were "swine flu symptoms," "swine flu" and "symptoms of swine flu" for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, 2009. Paid search traffic on the term "swine flu symptoms" increased 7 percent for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, compared with the previous four weeks.

CDC.gov top Website receiving traffic from term "h1n1" and "swine flu"
The CDC.gov Website received the most visits from the term "h1n1" for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, 2009. Wikipedia was next, receiving 11.24 percent of visits, followed by Google News with 4.84 percent. Among the top 10 Websites, Flu.gov's visits increased 70 percent, which was the largest month-over-month increase. Yahoo! News, Google News and Facebook all saw double-digit increases month over month.

The CDC.gov Website received the most visits from the term "swine flu" for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, 2009. Wikipedia was next, receiving 8.55 percent of visits, followed by Medicine Net with 8.03 percent. Among the top 10 Websites, Swineflu.gov's visits increased 161 percent, which was the largest month-over-month increase. The CDC, Medicine Net and Yahoo! News websites all saw double-digit increases month over month.

Source: Experian