• by Larry Dobrow , August 14, 2004

A so-called "data memo" unveiled Friday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project (PIP) and comScore Networks affirmed what most online marketers have long suspected: that the use of search engines ranks behind only e-mail as a frequent online activity and that Internet users are largely satisfied with the returns from their frequent searches. The memo also revealed that around 87 percent of search engine users find the information they're seeking "most of the time"--and that 92 percent are "very" or "somewhat" confident in their searching ability.

While such conclusions aren't exactly earth-shattering, they paint a picture of search as an essential part of any online experience. "It's very confirming in the numbers," notes Deborah Fallows, a PIP senior research fellow. The memo, which melds data from a PIP phone survey of nearly 1,400 Internet users with comScore's tracking of Internet use among the top 25 search engines, is a precursor to a more detailed look at search attitudes that PIP will unveil later this year.

Fallows notes that Internet users clearly have a lot of trust in the search options available to them, pointing to a finding that 44 percent of respondents believe that most or all of the searches they conduct are for essential information. And while users could go about their day-to-day existence without search engines--50 percent said they like using them but could go back to other ways of finding information--they believe that search engines are a "fair and unbiased" source of information (68 percent).

Given the increasing discomfort with the often blurred distinction between paid and natural search noted in previous studies, it's surprising that respondents have such a high level of confidence in the sanctity of search results. "It will get a little messier," Fallows predicts. "On one hand, search engines are commercial entities--they have to stay in business. On the other, nobody really knows where to draw the line."

Predictably, Google scored high with respondents, with 47 percent identifying it as the search engine they use most often. Yahoo! ranked second with 26 percent, with MSN (7 percent) and AOL (5 percent) trailing further behind. "Google does this better than anybody else," shrugs comScore Vice President of Marketing Solutions James Lamberti. "The design is clean and the interface is simple."

Still, Lamberti cautions that loyalty is in short supply among search engine users, suggesting that even the most established brands are vulnerable to an upstart armed with better technology. "Consumers will talk in positive terms about the Google brand, but from everything we can tell [search engines] have reached parity from a technology perspective," he explains. "There's an incredible amount of switching and using more than one in even a single session. I think we're heading into a much more positioning-based battle until somebody comes along and changes the landscape."

comScore's tracking revealed that Americans performed 3.9 million searches in June. The average Internet user conducted 33 searches and spent 41 minutes at search engine sites during the month.