This is from an email I get from INeedHits ... thought I'd share the stats:


Several reports recently have confirmed Google as reigning supreme in the world of search. A new report from OneStat has found more than half of global internet users rely on Google. The Web analytics specialist has confirmed Google is gaining market share from both Yahoo! and MSN. For May, 2004, search engine global usage share was as follows:

Google 56.5%
Yahoo! 21.1%
MSN Search 9.2%
AOL Search 3.8%
Terra Lycos 2.0%
Ask Jeeves 1.7%
Altavista 1.7%

This new report confirms similar studies. Earlier this year, Hitwise also reported Google the no. 1 search engine, gobbling more than a 21% increase in market share from both Yahoo and MSN during the period August 2003 and April 2004.

Category Niches

Reports from both Hitwise and iProspect noted a correlation in the US between search categories and % visits for each of the engines. According to Hitwise, Google is scoring well for the Education and News & Media categories, whereas MSN is dominating in Shopping & Classifieds, Business & Finance and Travel.

Go with Google for Organic Searches

If you don’t have the budget for pay per click advertising, go with Google. The iProspect study found that out of Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL, search engine users found Google’s organic listings the most relevant.

Although MSN is beating Google in the Business & Finance, Shopping & Classifieds and Travel sectors, its users are more likely to click on the paid search results. (iProspect, April 2004).