12 replies to this topic

[tellico4x4]

Last year our SE traffic from Google was 51%; Yahoo was 26%; MSN was only 13%. Is this "normal" ? Yesterday, I had 3500 unique visitors to the site and 1,400 came from Google; 700 from Yahoo; and 400 from MSN. I've always felt that we did not get enough traffic from MSN, and it seems no matter what I do, it never improves.....We've been on the net with our store (www.tellico4x4.com) for 4 years now, and Jill did some SEO work early on for us which we greatly appreciated.

This really bothers me when I think about every computer being sold in the world pretty much has MSN as the default search engine.

Edited by qwerty, 13 January 2005 - 09:28 AM.

[qwerty]

Welcome, tellico

MSN's always been #3 for me. As an example, one of my sites has had the following SE referrals so far this month: 3298 from Google, 862 from Yahoo, and 414 from MSN.

But one thing you can check on is your rankings at MSN for the phrases that people are coming in from. Right now, you should expect your MSN rankings to be about the same as Yahoo's, since Yahoo is still providing results to MSN (which is due to change some time this year).

[Shane]

Internet-wide, one service has the breakdown about like this so far this month:

Google 58%
Yahoo! 24%
MSN 10%
AOL.com 3%
Netscape 2%
Ask 1.5%

[Haystack]

This really bothers me when I think about every computer being sold in the world pretty much has MSN as the default search engine.

Good point. I've wondered the same thing before. Here's my theory: while MSN is the default search engine on most computers, people eventually figure out that there are better search solutions, which may mean cleaner and faster (Google) or more personalized (My Yahoo) and eventually switch to one of those two. It's around the time that they figure this out that they start becoming more comfortable with the web in general and are approaching their first online purchase. So, while MSN does represent a sizable percentage of searchers, I don't consider them to be Grade A Prime prospects for most businesses.

[Randy]

Another consideration is that most ISP's also try to funnel everyone to their default page, which could be using any search engine. So even if MSN comes as the default on the computer, them moment someone installs the ISP's software to actually get online it is no longer the default.

[qwerty]

There's an article in Search Engine Watch today that says that while Google still rules the roost, the others are making inroads.

Since the last study, Yahoo! has boosted the number of users who said they would consider the site as their primary search engine by more than 20% and MSN by almost 30%.

Perhaps the most significant finding in the study is that searchers are more fickle than many people think. Even though 75% of users say they have a favorite search engine that they turn to first, 50% will turn to another search engine as an alternative if they don't get satisfactory results.

I'm not seeing that shift myself, though.

[Shane]

Ha! Yeah. If I've learned anything, it's that what users say and what they do are often two quite different things. Don't listen to them; watch them.

[BobetteKyle]

For week 1/2 - 1/8:
Google 6,761 (78.46%)
Yahoo 1,238 (14.37%)
MSN 391 (4.54%)

This is an increase in both Yahoo and MSN and drop in Google...MSN used to be almost non-existent, Yahoo 10-ish.

[Bernard]

It's easy enough for people to change default home pages to Yahoo or Google or their favorite site.

More to your point though, don't forget that overall share numbers, even if accurate, may not apply when scaled down to a given search query. They all have different demographics IMO.

[BobetteKyle]

More to your point though, don't forget that overall share numbers, even if accurate, may not apply when scaled down to a given search query.  They all have different demographics IMO.

Bet you are right. If everyone on the board looked at their stats, there probably wouldn't be one that exactly matched the overall numbers. We all have different kinds of visitors, different kinds of sites, etc.

Reminds of an old joke...avg. kids per household in the US used to be something like 2.5. Never did find that extra half-kid.

[Hyperformance]

As usual, this forum is right, and right on top of the story...

Internet Reatiler ran an article too, similar findings in that Google has lost ground to both Yahoo! and MSN.

IMO, more and more people are seeing that Google relevancy has been suffering for more than 6 months... and that is a part of these figures. Internet Retailer snippet;

"Google stays on top, but Yahoo and MSN closing the gap, study finds
A Keynote study shows consumers remain most satisfied with Google search, but across 250 metrics measured, Yahoo and MSN gain over the past year. As other engines attract more users, it will serve to shift advertising, says Keynote."

Remain most satisfied? Not sure what that meant...

[tellico4x4]

Thanks guys and gals for all the info. I went out last night and ran some queries on MSN's beta SE. We are in the top five for many relevant terms on the beta version and pretty much non-existent for the same terms on their Yahoo! fed one.

I guess I'll just wait and see what happens.......Thanks again.

[Jill]

Welcome tellico4x4!

Looks like that work from years ago is still paying off!



Jill