Monday, August 15, 2005
Free Search Engine Landscape Report
Take a moment and visit Hitwise and signup for a free report about the Search Engine Landscape.
The report shows that search engines are the preferred web navigation tool for many users, sending searchers to their favorite sites as well as helping them find information, goods, and services. Search is part of the Internet user’s daily routine – indeed, visits to search sites accounted for 7 percent of Internet visits in July 2005.
As the search engine landscape has evolved since Google’s IPO in April 2004, industry observers have speculated as to whether Google can hold on to its audience in the face of increasing competition. In recent months, MSN re-launched its own search tool, and both Yahoo! Search and Ask Jeeves revamped their advertiser networks.
Despite these threats, this report will show that Google has not lost market share, and further examines differences in the way Internet users search on each engine, what kinds of sites they go to after searching, and who is visiting each engine.
Following is a summary of key findings from the report:
• The top three search engines, Google, Yahoo! Search, and MSN Search, dominate the search landscape, accounting for 72.8% of visits to Search Engine & Directories sites for the week ending July 23, 2005.
• Google received a larger market share of visits than visits to Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask Jeeves combined for the week ending July 23, 2005. In addition, Google’s share of searches has increased by 14.1% over the past year.
• Shopping is a top priority for search users, with Shopping & Classifieds sites receiving the most downstream visits among all the major search engines in June 2005.
• Yahoo! Search and MSN Search are dependent on their parent portals for the majority of their traffic. Thus Google’s dominance in market share and share of searches is particularly noteworthy considering that it does not have a portal to drive traffic.
• Yahoo! Local has a larger market share of visits than Google Local and Ask Jeeves Local. Local search visitors tend to be female, and go to map sites after leaving the local search engines.
• Across Google, Yahoo! Search, and MSN Search, an average of 87% of searches contain one or two words, while more than 30% of Ask Jeeves searches contain three or more words. This reflects Ask Jeeves’ history as a “question” site, as question searches typically consist of 3 or more words.
• Search engines are being used navigationally – shared among the top searches on Google, Yahoo! Search and MSN Search are terms like “ebay,” “mapquest,” “yahoo,” and “hotmail.”
• The term “google” is the most searched for term on MSN Search and Yahoo! Search, which may be explained by the fact that MSN and Yahoo! portals may be home pages for many Internet users, and the search box is being used like the browser address bar. It also points to Google’s brand strength – searchers prefer to go to Google rather than use their portal’s own search engine.
• Google has slightly more male than female visitors, while MSN Search and Ask Jeeves visitors are mostly female.
• Yahoo! Search and Ask Jeeves are strongly represented in the younger age groups.
Category: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization
The report shows that search engines are the preferred web navigation tool for many users, sending searchers to their favorite sites as well as helping them find information, goods, and services. Search is part of the Internet user’s daily routine – indeed, visits to search sites accounted for 7 percent of Internet visits in July 2005.
As the search engine landscape has evolved since Google’s IPO in April 2004, industry observers have speculated as to whether Google can hold on to its audience in the face of increasing competition. In recent months, MSN re-launched its own search tool, and both Yahoo! Search and Ask Jeeves revamped their advertiser networks.
Despite these threats, this report will show that Google has not lost market share, and further examines differences in the way Internet users search on each engine, what kinds of sites they go to after searching, and who is visiting each engine.
Following is a summary of key findings from the report:
• The top three search engines, Google, Yahoo! Search, and MSN Search, dominate the search landscape, accounting for 72.8% of visits to Search Engine & Directories sites for the week ending July 23, 2005.
• Google received a larger market share of visits than visits to Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask Jeeves combined for the week ending July 23, 2005. In addition, Google’s share of searches has increased by 14.1% over the past year.
• Shopping is a top priority for search users, with Shopping & Classifieds sites receiving the most downstream visits among all the major search engines in June 2005.
• Yahoo! Search and MSN Search are dependent on their parent portals for the majority of their traffic. Thus Google’s dominance in market share and share of searches is particularly noteworthy considering that it does not have a portal to drive traffic.
• Yahoo! Local has a larger market share of visits than Google Local and Ask Jeeves Local. Local search visitors tend to be female, and go to map sites after leaving the local search engines.
• Across Google, Yahoo! Search, and MSN Search, an average of 87% of searches contain one or two words, while more than 30% of Ask Jeeves searches contain three or more words. This reflects Ask Jeeves’ history as a “question” site, as question searches typically consist of 3 or more words.
• Search engines are being used navigationally – shared among the top searches on Google, Yahoo! Search and MSN Search are terms like “ebay,” “mapquest,” “yahoo,” and “hotmail.”
• The term “google” is the most searched for term on MSN Search and Yahoo! Search, which may be explained by the fact that MSN and Yahoo! portals may be home pages for many Internet users, and the search box is being used like the browser address bar. It also points to Google’s brand strength – searchers prefer to go to Google rather than use their portal’s own search engine.
• Google has slightly more male than female visitors, while MSN Search and Ask Jeeves visitors are mostly female.
• Yahoo! Search and Ask Jeeves are strongly represented in the younger age groups.
Category: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization
posted by Symetri at 8/15/2005 03:09:00 PM 
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