Craigslist was the most popular search term in the United States earlier this month, according to Hitwise.

Craigslist became the most-searched term that Internet users clicked through to in the United States during the week that ended March 14, Hitwise said. MySpace had held the top spot as the most popular term for more than three years.

Hitwise reported that U.S. searches for "Craigslist" increased 105% for the week ending March 14, compared with the same week last year. The search trend mirrors an increase in visits to the online classifieds site, according to Hitwise. The trend likely stems from consumers turning to online classifieds for goods, services, and jobs while the economy is weak.

MySpace ranked second on the list of most popular search terms during the week ending March 14, a 7% decrease from the same period last year, while Facebook ranked third, up 415% from the same period in 2008, Hitwise found.

The top U.S. search term driving the most traffic from paid listings last week was "eBay," according to Hitwise. EBay received 0.04% of paid clicks during the week ending March 14. That share is four times greater than the second-ranked keyword for paid traffic, "eBay.com," Hitwise reported. That reflects not only search popularity but also eBay customers' willingness to click on sponsored listings, Hitwise research director Heather Dougherty said.

"Yellow Pages," "Home Depot," and "Netflix" rounded out the top five paid search terms, with Home Depot recording a 1,086% increase from 2008. All other terms in the top five list lost ground compared with last year, Hitwise said.

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