Nielsen//NetRatings’ report on search share showed us more of the same: Google wins. But, what’s new in this report is that Google has been promoted from King to Emperor in image search, controlling almost 72 percent of queries.
Though search share among the major search engines has remained relatively stagnant, Ask.com was conspicuously absent from the top five. The recently reinvented search engine however, did make a showing in image search.
As of February, Google continues to rule the search world, reeling in 48.5 percent of all searches. Yahoo! and MSN, like Google, garnered a search share that fluctuated less than one percent since the last measure. Yahoo! drew 22.5 percent to MSN’s 10.7 percent. AOL and My Way Search pulled in 6.6 percent and 2.7 percent respectively.
Overall, the total number of searches increased 38 percent, from 3.8 billion in February 2005 to 5.3 billion in February 2006. That total is reflective of a large increase in searches per person, not in new searcher activity. Last February, the average Web user conducted 33.2 searches. This year, that number increased by 30 percent to 43.1 searches per person. The number of unique searchers increased only six percent.
“We see search usage intensity increasing, not only in the number of searches done per person for general Web content, but also for searches initiated specifically for photos and graphics, as well as for comparison shopping information,” said Michael Lanz, vice president, search industry solutions, Nielsen//NetRatings.
“Hoping to get more relevant results, many consumers are going to search engines and clicking on the specific category of search they are interested in, such as image’ or shopping,’ instead of just making a search immediately in the default Web’ search bar.”
Among the search verticals, says Nielsen, image search had the largest surge in activity, increasing by 91 percent, with Google controlling 71.9 of all image searches. Yahoo! followed with 19.1 percent and Ask.com reaches 3rd place with 3.5 percent, trailed by MSN and AOL.
“Increasing broadband penetration, which allows users to download large image files easily and efficiently, and the rising popularity of social networking sites have contributed to the increase in image searches. In the upcoming year, we can expect to see an increase in video searches as video clips become as commonplace on the Internet as still images,” said Lanz.
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