Current Google Insights trends:Tiger Woods, Rachel Uchitel, Jaimee Grubbs

(AFP PHOTO / Robyn Beck)

The Tiger Woods scandal is escalating and searches for his name have increased exponentially on December 4.

Celebrity gossip sites and news tabloids have given increasing coverage to the Woods "scandal," resulting in a swarm of people Googling his name.

News agencies have moved from reporting on the professional golfer's November 27 car crash into full-blown stories alleging that his wife caused the facial injuries he sustained in the accident to accounts of his extramarital affairs with women (including American socialite Rachel Uchitel and former reality TV star Jaimee Grubbs).

The names of Rachel Uchitel, Jaimee Grubbs and Woods's Wife, Elin Nordegren, are all hotly searched for topics on Google on December 4. Searches for celebrity website TMZ have also risen.

The search terms with the most significant growth worldwide in the last seven days as measured by Google Insights, recorded on December 4 at 9:30 AM GMT are:

1. tiger woods (Breakout)
2. rachel uchitel (Breakout)
3. jaimee grubbs (Breakout)
4. elin nordegren (Breakout)
5. tmz (+150%)
6. pole emploi (+90%)
7. christmas (+80%)
8. google wave (+70%)
9. amazon.com (+60%)
10. victoria secret (+50%)

*Breakout defines a search term that has experienced a change in growth greater than 5000 percent.