comScore: Consumers are researching health terms

In addition to pregnancy and cancer, consumers increasingly turned to the web to learn more about sexual and reproductive health issues with search queries for HIV, HPV and Herpes also garnering high query numbers.

Carolina Petrini, comScore senior vice president said, “When facing a serious illness like cancer or after becoming pregnant or considering pregnancy, consumers often turn to the Internet to search for information and educate themselves in a private setting. comScore’s findings, along with information about the search popularity of branded terms provide meaningful insights into the ways consumers use search to find health information online.”

In a related report, comScore found that Google once again led the way as most US consumers continued to search using the online giant's engine. Users made nearly 11 billion search queries throughout March 2008; Google sites accounted for just over 59% of searches. Yahoo's engine accounted for 21% of searches and Microsoft sites accounted for just under 10%.

Overall, March search queries increased by 9% over February searches.

Tags: paid search, search engines, search marketing