Yahoo! Is still the top choice as an Internet search engine, but
Google is catching up fast, according to a study.
Of all search referrals worldwide, 36.4% came from Yahoo!, while
Google trailed close behind with 31.9%, according to figures from
market researcher WebSideStory, which released the results of a
tracking study by its StatMarket division.
Microsoft's MSN network wasplaced third with 12.7% of worldwide
search referrals.
StatMarket defined search referrals as "the percentage of daily
Internet users that arrive at a Web page via a particular search
site", it said in a statement.
The study data was gathered from the 125,000 client sites that use
the Hitbox Web analysis services from WebSideStory, which attract
50 million daily Internet users, said a WebSideStory spokeswoman.
The company used cookies - small software programs stored on a
user's computer - and tags in a client Web site's code to gather
the search referral data.
Google is one of the few search engines that focuses on search
technology, unlike Yahoo! and MSN, which feature broad categories
of services and features.
Google also provides the back-end technology for searches conducted
through Yahoo! and Netscape Communications's site, although only
searches originating from Google's site are included in the
statistics above.
Althought Yahoo!'s search engine numbers are declining, the company
still enjoys a leading presence in several Internet categories,
including finance, music and personal Web page services. Despite
the strength of its brand, the company has struggled with
sustaining profitability, and now charges fees for services that
were previously free, including a premium search service.
The two companies are heading in different directions, according to
WebSideStory. Search engine referrals from Google have risen from
1% in June 2000 to their present level, while Yahoo!'s numbers have
dropped from 46% of all referrals in the same time frame.