Gym search traffic rockets

New Year is traditionally a time for people to make vows relating to personal fitness and health, though search statistics for the start of 2009 shows that we are more interested in the gym than going on a diet.

Hitwise has noted an increase in the number of searches for gym-related websites, though diet searches are down on this time last year.

"Traffic to gym websites traditionally spikes after Christmas, and this year the increase has been even greater than usual. Last week traffic to a custom category gym and health club websites was up 14 per cent on the equivalent week last year," said Robin Goad of Hitwise.

"Although traffic to gym websites is increasing, the opposite is true of diet searches. Searches for the term 'diet' are down 20 per cent on last year, while for searches for 'diets' have fallen by 50 per cent," Goad continued.

However, Goad said that searches for diets had still seen a significant spike in recent weeks, with the Cambridge Diet, the Atkins Diet, the Special K Diet and the Detox Diet all popular search terms since Christmas.

www.hitwise.com