Google drove political hits during midterm campaigns

8 Nov 2006

Search engines sent more traffic to political web pages than any other category during the week before midterm elections, according to an online intelligence service.

Hitwise reported this week that 28.17 percent of Internet traffic to political sites the week before elections originated with search engines.

Google led the pack, sending 18.74 percent of the traffic to political sites for the week ending November 4, Hitwise reported. Yahoo! Search was second, driving 4.73 percent of the traffic to political sites. Ask.com sent 1.48 percent of traffic to political sites, according to Hitwise.

websites with lifestyle-politics categories sent 12.86 percent of visits to other political sites, indicating that users visit more than one political website in a session, according to Hitwise. Email was next in line as a route to political sites, accounting for 6.798 percent of visits, Hitwise reported. Lifestyle blogs and personal websites drove 5.48 percent of the traffic to political sites, according to Hitwise.

News and media sites accounted for 4.26 percent of visits to political sites last week, while Internet communities, chat rooms and social networks were responsible for 3.23 percent of the traffic, Hitwise reported.

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