• by Kate Kaye , April 15, 2004

Google gets the gold again. The first installment of iProspect's Search Engine User Attitudes Survey focusing on Search Engine Loyalty found that more than 65 percent of respondents who use Google use only one search engine most of the time.

Over 55 percent of Yahoo! searchers stick with the portal, 53.7 percent of MSN users are loyal to its search feature, and 48.6 percent of America Online's search users prefer to use only AOL for that purpose. In fact, nearly 57 percent of respondents are partial to one particular search engine.

"The relevance of natural search is driving a lot of that loyalty," suggests Bill Muller, vice president at search engine marketing firm iProspect. "The ones that are relying most heavily on pure algorithmic results--those are the market leaders."

Some users share the love, though. Around 30 percent of study respondents consider several search engines to be favorites. More than 12 percent choose different search engines, based on the type of search they're conducting.

Browser toolbar search features are big, too. Yahoo! tops the toolbar list: 22 percent of those surveyed have a Yahoo! Search toolbar. Google comes in second with almost 20 percent, and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN has more than 17 percent. All in all, at least 49.3 percent of study participants have installed at least one search toolbar from these heavy search hitters.

"For the intended strategy of these toolbars, which is to generate loyalty, I don't know if they're great for that," comments Jupiter Research Senior Analyst Gary Stein, who adds: "We see a lot of downloading of toolbars, but not a lot of use."

The study also indicates that search engine users are more willing to experiment with search. As compared to 71 percent in 2002, 91 percent of those surveyed for the new study modify search queries within the same search engine if the first three results pages of an initial search don't meet their needs. "This shows a trend in people having more confidence in search engines now," believes iProspect's Muller.

As far as Web activities go, Jupiter's Stein says: "Searching is one of the more geeky, techie things to do. People are still sort of in the learning process." He suggests that search engines focus on features geared toward facilitating follow-up searches.

According to the study, 98.8 percent of Web users use search engines. And as with a similar study conducted in 2002, iProspect found that search is a regular task, performed throughout the week and even multiple times throughout the day for some power searchers. More than 35 percent of respondents use search engines at least once each day, while over 21 percent use them four or more times daily. Cumulatively, 79 percent of study participants use search engines several times each week, compared to 77.5 percent who did so in 2002.

A recent report from Web analytics firm WebSideStory that measured the proportion of visitor traffic that search sites deliver to other Web sites also pegged Google at number one, accounting for almost 41 percent of referrals as of March 2004.

Overall, says Muller, the study "reiterates that the top four search engines by market share are also the top four search engines by customer loyalty." Although Google reigns, Muller cautions that search marketers shouldn't shun the other top search engines. "The bottom line is, if you were not found in Google, but were found in MSN and Yahoo!, you would have possibly more visibility."

iProspect will unveil the next installment of its multi-part study next week.