The websites of the four most frequently-mentioned financial entities - BBK.ES, KUTXA.NET, CAJALABORAL.ES and BBVANET.COM – went from 55,200 mentions in the second quarter of 2003 to 65,300 in the fourth quarter of 2003, an 18.3% rise, according to Eustat data. The BBVA subsidiary doubled its number of mentions during this period, although the most frequently-mentioned website of all the on-line banks was that of the BBK.

ELCORREODIGITAL.COM maintains its leadership in the ranking of the most mentioned websites, with DIARIOVASCO.COM continuing to occupy second place, although these two on-line newspapers received less mentions from internet users, caused partly by the fall in the number of sites accessed during the 4th quarter compared to the 2nd quarter of 2003.

The principal websites dedicated to job vacancies –LANBIDE.NET and INFOJOB.COM- also rose in the ranking, as well as gaining 9.5% more mentions in six months.

9 out of 10 Internet users chose GOOGLE, 13% more than in the 2nd quarter of 2003

When it comes to using Internet access portals, either only as search engines or as a web guide for each session, the Basque internet user opts more clearly than ever for GOOGLE, which in six months went from 78.6% of users to 87.3%.

14% of Internet users chose YAHOO, which occupies the second place in the list of preferences, followed by TERRA with 10.9%. However, YAHOO lost 36% of mentions and the third-placed lost 19.7%.

These losses extended to all other minority portals –none of which surpassed 2% of user mentions-, with exceptions such as KAIXO which gained 1,800 mentions over the six-month period.