Is Yahoo really the number one search engine?
I stand by my belief that more “regular” internet users use Yahoo over Google.
I know the other day I was talking about how Alexa had Yahoo number one in the rankings. That is overlooked a lot due to the fact that “techie’s” love Google. Google gets all the press but Yahoo is really on top.
You’d notice the blog post I wrote the other day may have been comparing apples to oranges. A discussion with a friend about the subject lead to his reasoning to “just using Yahoo”.
“Yahoo is convenient. You have news headlines, sports, my email, and a search bar all right there. I don’t have to do anything”
Pretty much the same reasoning people had for staying with AOL past its prime back in the day. But that reasoning also lead to another thought, which contradicts what I was saying in the other blog post.
Thinking about what my friend said made me realize something that I wasn’t considering when I spoke about it before. The people that are using Yahoo aren’t necessarily using Yahoo search.
They are using Yahoo email. They are looking at the sports scores and reading news headlines. I think overall Yahoo does indeed gets used more than Google, but as a search engine I think people spend less time on Yahoo than Google.
Even my friend from above admitted that when he really needs to search for things he goes to Google and Yahoo is just used casually.
Other post you may find interesting
- Search engine wars and guess what, Yahoo is beating Google (according to Alexa)…who wouldve thought?
- The Yahoo toolbar gets no respect. Does it deserve any?
- Want a new homepage? Dont forget about iGoogle
- Woohoo!!! I so hope this happens. Microsoft + Yahoo
- Is it time to start promoting other search engines along with Google?
August 13th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
I think you have the right conclusion. While more people may visit yahoo to read news stories, check sports scores, play fantasy sports or online games they don’t use the yahoo search engine nearly as much as Google. I think the most recent percentages on search has Google at 60% of the market as compared to around 20% for Yahoo!
August 14th, 2007 at 7:37 am
Hey,
I think this conclusion gets to the point.
Yahoo search engines might be used by people who love Yahoo as a portal (newbies, people who don’t surf frequently). I heard from friends, that search-engine use differs by country, but as well by target-group.
August 17th, 2007 at 11:59 am
i hv to say i mostly use yahooo, cause i hv an email account there i get to read about the hottest news there and i see everyday most popular keywords! maybe i can be called a newbie in this but i think yahoo is much more pleasant on the eye and that def means a lot to a girl!
google is a little boring!! and i do prefer yahoo’s search results, i find them always more helpfull than google … google has that sponsored results ….
another thing that i noticed is that sometimes when im looking for a site with affiliate programs i will find affiliate links on top of the list instead of the normal site link and that gets on my nerves!!
August 17th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
I wouldn’t pigeon hole everyone that prefer Yahoo into the “Newbie” category. Yea for someone that may be new, having all the information right there on one page is great, so newer or less tech oriented people tend to prefer Yahoo.
But like you said, Google is kindof boring….Just a search bar. Me personally, I like that about Google. At the same time, I do know it is all a matter of personal preference and everyone will like different things.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
of course its normal different people like different things and neither yahoo or google is going into bankruptcy anytime soon!
i just dont ever use msn, or like it even if its quite similar to yahoo its just not my thing!
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:16 am
Yahoo is number one in amount of visitors. (according to Alexa) however, if we talking about search engine. Google still number one. because yahoo have service to offer from google.
for some service such as messenger, group and email, I use yahoo. because yahoo is more user friendly.
There is something we can learn from yahoo. More services means more visitors.
August 23rd, 2007 at 2:50 pm
I guess depending on your criteria, any of the search engines could be considered #1… In my opinion, I like yahoo and google best.
December 4th, 2007 at 12:29 am
personally, i found google is much more easy to use and fast loading.. but for some of specific keyword, yahoo sometimes is provide me more complete and match result… some people ever said that yahoo algorith is much better then google, well, who knows..