Canadian internet visits to House and Garden websites were up 16% year over year last week (week to 1st May 2010). House and Garden is one of the largest retail categories based on share of internet visits in Canada, ranking as the 5th largest category last week (behind Classifieds, Rewards and Directories, Auctions and Department Stores).
The recent spate of lovely weather in central and eastern Canada may explain the increase further buoying a typical seasonal increase as Canadians embark on spring home improvements. Experian Hitwise data reveals that visits to House and Garden increased though March to peak early April. The high levels have sustained over the past four weeks.
The highest volume search terms sending visits to the category were brand names (Canadian Tire, Home Depot). The top generic terms (non-branded) were “furniture stores” and “kitchen cabinets”. The following table lists the top 10 brand and generic terms sending visits to websites in the category in the past twelve weeks.

Among the top 10 House and Garden websites last week (ranking provided below) all but one saw an increase in share of Canadian Internet visits year over year. In particular, Canadian Tire saw a 42% increase year over year last week and their weekly flyer website has seen a 70% year over year increase. Home Hardware and Rona.ca also saw significant increases of 56% and 26% respectively.