Search Engine Optimisation, Promotion and Internet Marketing

Web searchers stick with favourites

21 April 2004

Over half of all internet users (57 per cent) use the same search engine or directory when they are looking for information, a new survey claims.

The new iProspect Search Engine User Attitudes Survey found that most searchers are loyal to their favourite search engine, and even stick with it if they don't initially find what they're looking for.

Only 30 per cent of web users have a few specific search engines they use on a regular basis, while just 13 per cent use a different search engine depending on what they are looking for. Google came out top among web users with a "loyalty rate" of 66 per cent, followed by Yahoo! with 55 per cent, MSN at 54 per cent and AOL at 49 per cent.

Meanwhile, the survey showed that unemployed users and female users are less likely to scroll through countless pages before modifying their search terms or switching to another search engine than the average searcher.

Almost half (44 per cent) of female respondents quit a search after viewing the first page of results, compared to 37 per cent of men, while more than 44 per cent of unemployed search engine users will quit after checking one listings page, compared with 38.4 per cent of full-time workers and 41.1 per cent of part-time workers.

Almost 99 per cent of web users perform searches, but most are unwilling to persevere if they cannot easily find what they are looking for. The survey found that 22.6 per cent of searchers quit after viewing just the first few results, more than 18 per cent do so after the first page, over 25 per cent leave after the first two pages, and 14.7 per cent stick around through the first three pages before leaving. The report states that 80 per cent of search users won't see a listing if it does not fall within the top three pages.

Apply for your free web assessment - get a complete health check and optimisation action plan from Weboptimiser, the experts.

Leading brand search engine marketing since 1996

Founded in 1996 as an SEO company, Weboptimiser is today one of the Internet marketing sector's best-known and most respected search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) search engine marketing companies.

With a unique portfolio of brand-friendly services, including usability, contextual advertising and web analytics, a pioneering methodology that covers all 4 stages of interaction between a web site and its visitors, we make our clients sites faster, smarter, busier and more profitable.