Understanding Search Engines
According to Search Engine Watch, most popular search engines are:
|
Top 15 Search Destinations Home & Work Users, June 2004  |
See Nielsen NetRatings Search Engine Ratings and list of the most popular search engines from AllStock.com.
According to comScore,
- Google sites control the largest share of searches conducted by global English-speaking Internet users, accounting for nearly one-third of all searches. Yahoo! is the domestic share leader, accounting for 26 percent of the 790 million average weekly U.S. searches.
- Yahoo’s domestic leadership is driven primarily by the strength of its channel offerings, such as Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! Yellow Pages. In fact, more than half of total searches at Yahoo! were submitted within these channels, indicating that a reliance upon unique visitors to Yahoo! Search as a measure of search behavior does not account for the majority of actual Yahoo! search activity.
- While Google and Yahoo! are the share leaders in at-work searching (27 percent and 26 percent respectively), MSN has the highest proportion (51 percent) of its total searches conducted by at-work users.
- Sites that are a part of the Overture network – including Yahoo!, MSN, InfoSpace and Altavista – served a total of 46.8 percent of all searches conducted in the four weeks ending January 26, 2003. Over the same time period, sites that offer Google results – including Google.com, AOL, InfoSpace and Ask Jeeves – accounted for a comparable 46.6 percent of all searches.
From SearchDay #877,
Fredrick Markini, CEO of iProspect, summarized data from the "iProspect Search Engine User Attitudes Report," surveying 1,649 participants on their search engine behavior. Specific results are:
- 60.5 percent of respondents picked a natural search result as the one they found most relevant to a sample query. 60.8 percent of respondents who use Yahoo! picked a natural search result as "most relevant" to a sample query. 72.3 percent of respondents who use Google picked a natural search result as "most relevant."
- 15.2 percent more women than men stop at the first page of search results.
The study by iProspect also illustrated when searchers "move on" from search results and type in another query.
- 22.6 percent of searchers will try another search after viewing the top listings. 18.6 percent will try another search after viewing the entire first page. 25.8 percent will abandon the query after checking the first two pages.
- 14.7 percent will relaunch a query after the first three pages.
"Rarely do searchers go past the third page," says Markini.
Liz Edison from Vividence noted that Google was perceived as the leader in terms of both customer experience and satisfaction. However, although actual search results returned by Yahoo!, Google, Ask Jeeves, Lycos and MSN were not dramatically different, Google users had a higher perceived rate of success and satisfaction.
"Search engines are at performance parity when success is measured objectively," said Edison. "Despite performance, people prefer Google."
For diagrams of the relationships between different search engines, directories, and PPC advertising programs, see
- Search Engine Results Chart from Search Engine Watch
- Search Engine Relationship Chart from Bruce Clay for breakdown of main providers, paid providers, and directory or backup search results.
- Top 15 Search Engine and Directory Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising Programs and Search Engines and Directory Submission services by PA WebSearch.
| most popular search engines | organic results | paid results | directory results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Google | Open Directory | ||
| 2. Yahoo | Yahoo | Overture | Yahoo |
| 3. MSN | MSN | Overture | Open Directory |
| 4. AOL | Open Directory | ||
| 5. Ask Jeeves | Teoma | ||
| 6. Overture | Overture | Overture | |
| 7. My Way Search | Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, or LookSmart | ||
| 8. Go /Infoseek | |||
| 9. Lycos | Inktomi | ||
| 10. Web Search | |||
| 11. Infospace | |||
| 12. Netscape | Open Directory | ||
| 13. Altavista | Yahoo | Overture | Open Directory |
| 14. Microsoft Search | MSNBot | ||
| 15. HotBot | HotBot (portions powered by Inktomi), Google, and Teoma | Google / Teoma |
| other search engines | |
|---|---|
| Looksmart | Provides results for Lycos, InfoSpace, CNET, and LookSmart.com |
