Your search engine defines the web you see
Network World summarizes a recent study with big implications for online marketers and SEO experts. In short: What you see in search results depends heavily on which search engine you’re using.
No surprise there, right? Except there is a surprise in just how widely the results vary. In first-page search results, on average:
- 69.6% of Google’s [first page results] were unique to Google.
- 79.4% of Yahoo’s were unique to Yahoo.
- 80.1% of Live’s were unique to Live.
- 75.0% Ask’s were unique to Ask.
All in all, according to the survey, only 1% of results appeared on the front page of all four search engines.
The study’s not perfect — it was commissioned by Dogpile, a search engine that combines results from many different engines, and so there’s plenty of self-interest in the concept of single-site search bias. But the study itself looks academically rigorous and was conducted by proper researchers; a copy can be found here.
Trackback
RSS Feed
2 comments
1.
Stevie wrote on 01. July 2007 at 7:42 pm
That’s interesting statistics to see on the results of using different search engines but then it begs the question how can one nail down ALL FOUR search engines. Ask.com has it’s own personal set up that is derived from its writers who are required to link within their netowrk which makes it hard to get outside their realm
Yahoo, Live and Google together would make it work.
Any suggestions out there how to make a dent in 3 of 4?
2.
Google is Useful, Not Magical « Mixed Media wrote on 02. July 2007 at 8:43 pm
[…] search engines still exist and many people are using them. Greg Brooks points to a recent study that reveals different search engines return vastly different results. […]