Celebrities, Mortgage Rates and Tax Rebates Top Fastest Moving U.S. Search Terms Last Week

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Celebrities, Mortgage Rates and Tax Rebates Top Fastest Moving U.S. Search Terms Last Week

NEW YORK, NY - January 31, 2008 - With the unexpected death of movie star Heath Ledger last week, U.S. Internet users flocked to the web searching for the latest news. The search term "heath ledger" was the fastest moving search term across all search engines by U.S. Internet users for the week ending January 26, 2008 according to Hitwise. Ledger was the highest ranked term for the Entertainment and News and Media category as well.

Other top fast moving search terms included searches for "michelle williams", Heath Ledger’s ex-girlfriend; "the dark knight", Ledger’s next movie; "suzanne pleshette", an American actress who recently passed away. Furthermore, Michelle Williams and Suzanne Pleshette were both ranked in the top 10 fast moving searches for the Entertainment and News and Media industries as well.

Dana Jacobson, an ESPN Anchor who recently returned from suspension, was the highest ranked term for the Sports category and number five among All Categories and number six for the News and Media category. Rounding out the All Categories list, the term "mortgage rates" made the top 10 Fastest Moving Search Terms as the housing market continues to make news. The search terms "tax rebates" and "tax refund tricks" also made the list as we head into tax season.

Fastest Moving U.S. Search Terms for the week ending Jan. 26, 2008
All Categories	Sports	Entertainment	News and Media
heath ledger	dana jacobson	heath ledger	heath ledger
michelle williams	jelena jankovic	suzanne pleshette	heath ledger dead
the dark knight	2008 senior bowl	michelle williams	michelle williams
suzanne pleshette	super bowl 2008	heath ledger death	heath ledger death
dana jacobson	dana jacobsen	rick and bubba	suzanne pleshette
heath ledger dead	australian tennis open	dark knight	dana jacobson
heath ledger death	betus	heath ledger dead	tax rebate checks
mortgage rates	african nations cup result	midnight club los angeles ps3	lil wayne
tax rebate	atlanta falcons	heath ledger joker	heath ledger dies
tax refund tricks	bbc	oscar nominations	heath ledger’s death
Note - the Fast Moving Search Terms data is based on the percentage of search volume share of all U.S. searches for the week ending Jan. 26, 2008 compared to the previous week, from the Hitwise sample of 10 million U.S. users.
Source: Hitwise

The Fast Moving Search Terms report identifies search terms that have experienced significant increase in the percentage of share of search volume over the previous week.

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