Significant changes have occurred over the past two years in the way US Internet users search, including how search affects traffic to shopping and classifieds websites, according to Hitwise, MarketingCharts reports.

Among Hitwise's recent findings:

• In May 2007, search engines were responsible for 25 percent of visits going to Shopping and Classifieds websites, an increase of 0.7 percent from May 2006.
• Google is the most prominent source of traffic for Shopping and Classifieds websites, accounting for 15.6 percent of Shopping and Classifieds upstream visits, an increase of 8.7 percent from May 2006.
• Single-word search queries (including domain and URL searches) accounted for 23.7 percent of search terms sending traffic to Shopping and Classifieds websites in May 2007. The number of one-word searches was up 20 percent from May 2005.
• The top 20 social networking websites also grew as a source of traffic for Shopping and Classifieds websites, accounting for 3.6 percent of upstream visits in May 2007 - an increase of 86.7 percent from May 2006.
• MySpace, the leading social network, accounted for 3.2 percent of upstream visits to Shopping & Classifieds websites in May 2007.

"Search data provides a wealth of information about how consumers look for what they need and shop online," said Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise. "Marketers can leverage search data to better understand their brand and […] competitors' brands to make smarter business decisions moving the needle on their brand equity and associations."