Commentary
Pick Influential Search Engine By Category, But Yahoo! Safe Bet
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, February 21, 2006
Findings from BIGresearch's latest Simultaneous Media Survey show that Yahoo! is the overall #1 search engine choice for most influential on purchase decisions and Google is number 4. Media influence and/or engagement are hot topics in today's ROI driven ad world concludes the report.
Joe Pilotta, VP of Research at BIGresearch. Says "When you look at the impact of Internet Advertising on specific purchase decisions and not just click throughs, the impact of internet advertising is a different story," For example, the influence on electronics purchases showed Google #1 followed by Yahoo!, MSN, AOL and Ask Jeeves.
Influence of Internet Advertising on Purchase Decisions (Ranked by Search Engine Preference) | |||
Electronics | Apparel/Clothing | Car/Truck | Grocery |
1. Google | 1. Yahoo! | 1. MSN | 1. AOL |
2. Yahoo! | 2. AOL | 2. Yahoo! | 2. Yahoo! |
3. MSN | 3. MSN | 3. Google | 3. Ask Jeeves |
4. AOL | 4. Google | 4. Ask Jeeves | 4. MSN |
5. Ask Jeeves | 5. Ask Jeeves | 5. AOL | 5. Google |
Source: BIGresearch, February 2006 | |||
"If we tally the ranking of search engines' influence on category purchase decisions...Yahoo! (is) number 1 with a score of 13, with 1st or 2nd place finishes in every category, MSN number 2 at 21, AOL number 3 at 23, Google number 4 at 26 and Ask Jeeves number 5 at 32..." said Pilotta.
As Pilotta points out, share, as measured by Nielsen//Netratings, may not be the precursor of the important influence on purchase.
Google, Yahoo! & MSN Share of Search, June-Nov. 2005 (U.S. Home & Work) | |||
| Share of Searches | Share of Searches | Searches |
Search engine | June 2005 | Nov. 2005 | (000) in Nov. 2005 |
Google Search | 45.7% | 46.3% | 2,365,998 |
Yahoo! Search | 21.7% | 23.4% | 1,194,519 |
MSN Search | 12.2% | 11.4% | 583,304 |
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings MegaView Search, January 2006 | |||
For more information, please go to this site.
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.