Politics and Taxes Lead January Searches

The comScore figures for Web searches in January reveal no major surprises. It’s an election year, so politics dominates the scene everywhere, it’s early in the year, so people are thinking of taxes. And with the bottom dropping out of the housing market, it’s no wonder that real estate figures high in the numbers.   According to Vnunet, the tax category jumped 202% during January, with the IRS the big winner. In politics, the sites of all the candidates experienced a surge and the real estate category had a 28% rise.   The other gainer was careers, perhaps also typical of the season.   Jack Flanagan, executive vice president at comScore Media Metrix, said,   "The new year is a time for Americans to reflect on the past year and plan for the coming year, whether searching for a new job, a new residence, or preparing for the tax season. There was also a huge surge in activity at political content sites as the Democratic and Republican Presidential primaries kicked off with the Iowa caucuses in early January."