Sunday, August 21, 2005
Search Engines Trailing the Top Three Find Big Gains
U.S. search traffic rose by 5 percent overall between the first two quarters of 2005, while AOL and Ask Jeeves enjoyed double-digit growth in traffic. This was at the expense of the big three search engines, which are struggling to grow traffic by more than single figures, according to the MegaView Search report from Nielsen/Net Ratings. Google and Yahoo grew traffic by 6 percent and 9 percent respectively, while MSN actually suffered a 4 percent drop in traffic. However, the fourth and fifth search engines, AOL and Ask Jeeves, grew their traffic by 15 percent and 16 percent.
While AOL's resurgent growth drew comment from Nielsen, it still has only 5 percent of all searches, compared to the 12 percent of its nearest rival, MSN. Nielsen still ranks Google as first for search, accounting for 47 percent of all online searches, followed by Yahoo at 22 percent of total searches. Ask Jeeves' growth was led mainly by a 42 percent increase in news searches. However, its My Way Search made it into the top five rankings with a 2 percent share of all searches. My Way refuses banners and pop-ups, and its stance is proving popular. "My Way's unique anti-advertising value proposition resonates with a small but growing niche market," said Ken Cassar, Nielsen's director of strategic analysis.
Brought to you by Guardian eCommerce.
While AOL's resurgent growth drew comment from Nielsen, it still has only 5 percent of all searches, compared to the 12 percent of its nearest rival, MSN. Nielsen still ranks Google as first for search, accounting for 47 percent of all online searches, followed by Yahoo at 22 percent of total searches. Ask Jeeves' growth was led mainly by a 42 percent increase in news searches. However, its My Way Search made it into the top five rankings with a 2 percent share of all searches. My Way refuses banners and pop-ups, and its stance is proving popular. "My Way's unique anti-advertising value proposition resonates with a small but growing niche market," said Ken Cassar, Nielsen's director of strategic analysis.
Brought to you by Guardian eCommerce.
