Visits To Stock Web Sites up 19%
Posted on March 5th, 2009 by Mike Sachoff in the Articles section
U.S. visits to stock related Web sites increased 19 percent in February 2009 compared with February 2008, according to a new report from Hitwise.
The stocks and shares category accounted for 1.11 percent of all U.S. Internet visits in February 2009- ranking as the third-highest month in the past year, behind October and September 2008. The average time spent within the category was 11 minutes and 24 seconds, an increase of 14 percent over February 2008.
“With recent declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index, consumers are increasingly turning to Web sites to monitor financial news and portfolio performance,” said Heather Dougherty, director of research, Hitwise.
“There is a strong need for continuous information, particularly during economic uncertainty, that provides an opportunity to drive repeat visits and increase customer communication - especially advice that could help customers weather the storm.”
Yahoo Finance was the most visited Web site in the category, with 22.21 percent. MSN Money received the second -highest number of visits (7.32 %), followed by CNN Money (7.16%).
Among the top 300 search terms sending traffic to the stocks and shares category, 64 percent were for branded terms. Stock searches made up 20 percent, and generic searches mad e up 16 percent.
The top search terms by brand were for Sirius XM driven by talks of potential bankruptcy filing, Bank of America, General Electric, Pure Spectrum and Cross Atlantic Commodities round out the top five search terms for the month. The top generic search terms were “currency converter”, “gold price”, “gold prices”, “exchange rates”, and “gold.”