Nielsen NetRatings Search Engine Ranking

Comments | Posted by Lee Odden on Feb 23rd, 2004 in Online Marketing

Snippet: ‚ÄúSearch engines continue to be the primary tool people use to navigate the Web,‚Äù said Jason Levin,
analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. ‚ÄúWith the big search players having recently updated their search
capabilities, Internet users should expect to find even better search results from the major search engines
in the near future.‚Äù

The release reported search engine rankings according to Unique Audience and Active Reach.
1. Google – 39.4%
2. Yahoo – 30.4%
3. MSN – 29.6%
4. AOL – 15.5%
5. Ask Jeeves – 8.5%

These are the search properties that account for the vast majority of all search engine use. Not ranking well on these engines means lost opportunity. The most important reason users gave for using search engines was “can find relevant information”. Which is interesting given all the changes Google has been making to improve it’s results and Yahoo’s decision to rely on Inktomi rather than Google for default results.

I have to say, that results from Google and Yahoo have been great and I am very glad to see the competitive effort by both.

Nielsen NetRatings PDF Format
Excellent take on same release from Search Engine Watch