Google Retail Search Traffic Up Strongly - Hitwise

A post on the Google Retail blog provides Hitwise stats on Google retail search traffic for the week ending 12/13/2008.

According to Hitwise, Google search driven traffic is up year-over-year across most retail categories, with categories like Consumer Electronics (28%), Home improvement (27%) and Office Supplies (26%) all up significantly. Even Apparel (24%), Home Furnishings (16%), Toys (16%) and Sporting Goods/Fitness (11%) saw a jump over the same week in 2007.

Most analysts are still forecasting a significant decline in search activity for Google in 4Q in spite of topline stats like these and those from comSore, and another one from Google, pointing in the other direction. I am well aware that revenues will ultimately depend on coverage, click-thrus, and pricing, but unless the click-thrus and cpcs fall off a cliff, which is unlikely or shall I say I haven't seen evidence of such, revenue growth for Google should come in healthy this quarter, at least in the U.S.