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E-MAIL AND RETAIL
Google Giving Most Results – Creating A Buzz
More is happening at Google than going public. It has even become a verb. We now hear the phrase, “to google something,” meaning to search for information on a subject.
Did you know that Google is the most popular starting point for someone arriving at your web site? Google’s number of referrals has tripled in three years while Yahoo!’s has steadily declined, reports California based web analytics firm, WebSideStory. In 2001, Google delivered less than 12% of search referrals and it now delivers over 40% of site visitors to most sites.
Q. What is a search referral? A. A search referral is the way a person arrives at a site. The study’s referral numbers included unpaid search, paid search, and banner ads on the search engine.
Jupiter Research came to the same conclusion and stated that ultimately the superior technology wins. In 2001, only 12% of people who arrived at a web site after using a search engine had used Google. Now nearly half of the people arriving at a site are clicking through after a search on Google. In that same time period, Yahoo!s percent of referrals has dropped by one third.
MSN, although still in third place, has grown 5% since 2001 and is testing new search technology that has been well reviewed.
Share of Search Referrals by Major Search Engines 2001 – 2004 Source: WebSideStory 2004. Google referral triples in three years
Jupiter research could explain the finding. They noted that while Google trails Yahoo! slightly in attracting visitors, people perform more searches on Google. This helps us understand WebSideStory’s finding that Google has higher “search referral” numbers.
eSource News Reader Poll: Last month, eSource News, America’s Business News Resource, asked its readers this question -- Which search engine do you use most frequently? Readers said Google was their frequency favorite; it scored 61%. Yahoo! came in second with 35%.
Which Search Engine Do You Use Most Frequently? Survey Source: eSource News, Amercia’s Business News Resource
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