The answer to that question in a moment, but first some context:

Say the word “search” and most people think immediately of Google and its dominant market share. Despite this, one form of online searching remains largely out of Google’s ever-extending reach. While garnering much less attention (read: none) on-site search (what people search for once they arrive on a website) offers a revealing look into what matters most to site visitors.

Case in point: Walmart.com. The world’s largest retailer attracted 22M U.S. visitors to its website in October, over half of whom conducted at least one search on the site. The table below lists the top 40 terms Walmart.com visitors searched for in October.


Observations:

  • The top searched for term on Walmart.com in both September and October was “tires”! As in the lowly vulcanized rubber tubes we ride on each day. Over 1% of all searches on Walmart.com were for “tires” in October. While this came as a surprise to me, it certainly isn’t a secret to everyone, judging by the nearly 250,000 visitors that Walmart.com’s tire center attracts each month.
  • Seasonality has a significant affect on searches on Walmart.com. For example, Halloween related terms made up 3 of the top 13 searches in October.
  • Video gamers love Walmart. The “wii” was 2nd only to “tires” on the list of top search terms in October, while “xbox 360” was 12th on the list. The struggling PS3 ranked #54 in October, up from #97 in September, after a mid-month $100 price cut.
  • Consumer electronics related search terms accounted for half of the top 40 search terms in October.

Analyze more domains: + +

Done reading? subscribe: To get an automatic feed of all future posts subscribe here, or to receive them via email enter your email address in the box in the right column.

Link to This Post:     


Comments

RSS feed for comments on this post.
  1. David Berkowitz

    I resent that you say on-site search is getting no attention. Here’s just one example of my MediaPost columns that advocate broadening the definition of search engines: http://www.marketersstudio.com/2007/09/searchs-myspace.html .

  2. John

    9kHtsP gfb7n0ghn60s9d7f34n30bnit5

  3. teresa dunigan

    Walmart does not care about their customers!!!!If they did I would have been treated better when I go shopping there.

  4. roger huff

    i know i prob. not reaching the correct dept. but maybe you can pass it on ? i have been buying your product for years , i heard from a stocking person that you mabe dropping a product, i sure hope not ,we enjoy sams choice trail mixits called sams choiceorchard trail. gold and yellow pkg. i know this is prob. silly of me, but i beleive you really care. ty so much roger huff from topeka ks.

  5. ELD DANISMANLIK

    ELD Danışmanlık İnternet Yazılım Tekstil San. Ltd. Şti Türkiye’nin her noktasına hizmet verebilen bağımsız bir kuruluştur. 2004 yılında firmaların internet sitesi ve yazılımları geliştirmek üzere iş dünyasına atılan firmamız, bugün, ELD Danışmanlık adı altında, internet sitesi ve yazılımlarının yanı sıra ISO9001:2000 Kalite Yönetim Sistemi, ISO22000 (HACCP), OHSAS, CE, TSE, Marka Patent, Logo Tasarım, Grafik Çalışmaları ve ayrıca Tekstil (Rivet Baskı) konularında aktif olarak hizmet veren bir firma haline gelmiştir.

    ELD Danışmanlık 80 ‘den fazla referansıyla müşterilerine güven vermektedir

  6. bassan

    hi, msj 287 wonderful blog 287 share

  7. timberland boots wholesale

    Please excuse my poor attempt at sarcasm. I was simply trying to convey that relative to the attention paid to google and the like, on-site search gets much less notice. Your article being a noted exception.

  8. bassan loadcell

    hi, my name is basan.com.tr BASSAN loadcell.your wonderful blog, 301 blog. tnx. Msj number . 301

  9. merdiven

    Hi, We have been manufacturing stair. 319 merdivenci 319


Have something to say? Leave a Comment

Get the comments RSS feed, instant notification of new comments

Latest Blog Posts:


Nov 3: More Castrol Traffic No Fantasy
Nov 2: Digital 180 Speaks with Espresso’s Managing Director Marta Kagan
Oct 30: Apple Having a Little Fun
Oct 29: HTC Poised to Grow as Smartphone Market Expands
Oct 28: Getting The Most Out Of Compete PRO : Keyword Destination Reports
Oct 27: Walmart and Amazon declare war : Online Retailers Fight for Book Sales
Oct 26: Clicking Their Way to Home Improvement: How Consumers are using the web in home improvement projects
Oct 23: Ads That Reject The Click
Oct 22: September Search Share: The Bing train keeps rolling but not at Google’s expense
Oct 21: The Economy Helps Boost the Prepaid Market
Oct 20: Browsers for Food
Oct 19: September search term biggest movers are here!
Oct 16: Can Microsoft’s Zune HD challenge the iPod?
Oct 15: The Dove Soap Bubble
Oct 14: Sept Data is Live: 2009 is BIG for Back to School
Oct 12: Sweetness! Compete PRO just got that much better!
Oct 9: Toyota Spending Big to Get Off the Sidelines
Oct 8: Netbooks gaining traction with consumers
Oct 6: Walmart: A Growing Giant – Part 2
Oct 2: JetBlue’s Creative “All You Can Jet” Boosts Reach