Diets, Sports, Celebrities Top Search Lists

Internet searchers have had food and sports on their minds, as Lycos and Yahoo! have chronicled in their respective compilations of the weekly search terms. “Weight Watchers” weighed in at #1 on The Lycos 50 for the week ending March 27, 2004, with “Atkins Diet” following at #6 and “South Beach Diet” at #10.

Dean Tsouvalas, manager of content, Terra Lycos, comments on the rise of the dietary searches: “When we look at our search logs, we are overwhelmed by the extent of searches related to weight loss. We actually have seen a rise in the Weight Watchers searches over the past several weeks. Ironically, diet-related searches tend to rise immediately at the beginning of the year — with all the New Year’s resolutions — and then drop off by early February. But this year, diet searches have stayed high since January. Over the past two weeks, WW [Weight Watchers], Atkins and South Beach were all in the top ten. But WW started to pull away from the other two (three weeks ago), with searches steadily rising each week.”

None of the dietary terms made the Yahoo! Buzz Index for the week ending March 28, 2004, with searchers putting “NCAA Basketball” in the top position instead.

“Weight Watchers” is a relatively new entry on The Lycos 50, having spent only the last 4 consecutive weeks on the list, compared to “Atkins Diet” for 65 weeks, and “South Beach Diet” for 13. “Weight Watchers” also bounced “March Madness” from the top spot, where it dropped to #16.

“To be the #1 search term — beating out Paris Hilton, Clay Aiken and KaZaA — is a pretty big deal. WW actually generated 10 percent more search activity than Paris,” said Tsouvalas. “We don’t believe the rise in searches has anything to do with any one promotional plan WW is currently running. The reason we say this is because Web users are searching for more than 100 different queries for WW such as Weight Watcher Points, recipes, restaurant point guides etc.,” he continued.

Aside from the dietary terms, both The Lycos 50 and the Yahoo! Buzz Index heavily featured entertainment and celebrity-related searches. Women figured prominently with both lists carrying, “Britney Spears,” “Beyonce Knowles,” “Jessica Simpson,” “Paris Hilton,” “Christina Aguilera,” and “Janet Jackson.”

Found exclusively on the Yahoo! Index:

  • “Passion of the Christ” at #9
  • “Eminem” at #10
  • “D-12” at #11
  • “50 Cent” at #16
  • “Linkin Park,” #17
  • “Eamon,” #19
  • “My Band” at #20

Among the search terms that appeared only on the Lycos list are: “Clay Aiken” (#3); “KaZaA” (#4); “Spring Break” (#7); “Dragonball” (#9); “Brooke Burke” (#11); “Pamela Anderson” (#12); “Poker” (#13); “Lord of the Rings” (#15); “Kobe Bryant” (#17); “Easter” (#19); and “Las Vegas (#20).

Both lists featured “WWE,” “The IRS,” “American Idol,” and “NASCAR.”

Lycos 50 for the week ending
March 27, 2004
Current
Position
Search
Term
Last Week’s
Position
1 Weight Watchers 4
2 Paris Hilton 2
3 Clay Aiken 3
4 KaZaA 5
5 Britney Spears 6
6 Atkins Diet 8
7 Spring Break 31
8 WWE 7
9 Dragonball 10
10 South Beach Diet 9
11 Brooke Burke 16
12 Pamela Anderson 11
13 Poker 15
14 The IRS 14
15 Lord of the Rings 24
16 March Madness 1
17 Kobe Bryant Re-entry
18 Janet Jackson 13
19 Easter 30
20 Las Vegas 17
21 Usher new
22 Taxes 23
23 Final Fantasy 18
24 Marijuana 37
25 Catherine Bosley 20
26 Baseball 25
27 Hilary Duff 21
28 The Bible 46
29 Prom Dresses 22
30 Neopets 37
31 Pokemon 35
32 SailorMoon 45
33 American Idol 42
34 NFL 26
35 Save Angel From
Cancellation
19
36 Harry Potter 27
37 Stephanie McMahon 48
38 Katie Price (Jordan) new
39 Christina Aguilera 36
40 Yu-Gi-Oh! 44
41 Jennifer Lopez 29
42 NASCAR 40
43 Courtney Love 49
44 Beyonce 43
45 Anna Kournikova 32
46 Howard Stern 34
47 Tyra Banks new
48 Jessica Simpson Re-entry
49 Carmen Electra 39
50 Mars Rover Re-entry
Source: Terra Lycos
The Yahoo! Buzz Index for the
week ending March 28, 2004
Current
Position
Search
Term
Last Week’s
Position
1 NCAA Basketball 2
2 Britney Spears 1
3 Usher 3
4 WWE 4
5 American Idol 8
6 Beyonce Knowles 11
7 Jessica Simpson 14
8 Internal Revenue Service 7
9 The Passion of the Christ 6
10 Eminem 9
11 D-12
12 Jennifer Lopez 10
13 Paris Hilton 12
14 Christina Aguilera 17
15 Janet Jackson 15
16 50 Cent 16
17 Linkin Park 13
18 NASCAR 5
19 Eamon 18
20 My Band
Source: Yahoo!

Check out how the search terms have changed over time:

Do Not Call Harry Potter?

Payment and Entertainment

War and Basketball

Touchdowns, Taxes, and Tragedy

Searches Mostly Entertainment-Related

Virus Becomes Most Popular

Debut of a Salesman

Dragonball Rolls Into First Place

World Cup Kicks Star Wars Out of Space

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