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Nielsen NetRatings Search Engine Ratings

By Danny Sullivan, Editor, Search Engine Watch Web Site
 August 23, 2005

The Nielsen//NetRatings MegaView Search reporting service measures the search behavior of more than a million people worldwide. These web surfers have real-time meters on their computers which monitor the sites they visit. This metered information is compiled to produce NetRatings results. Below are statistics about searching from NetRatings provided to Search Engine Watch:

Share Of Searches: July 2005

The chart below shows the percentage of online searches done by US home and work web surfers in July 2005 that were performed at a particular search engine. Internal site searches, such as those to find material within a particular web site, are not counted in these totals. The activity at more than 60 search sites makes up the total search volume upon which percentages are based -- 4.5 billion searches in this month.

Note that the figures are search-specific but probably not necessarily web-search specific. Also note that some companies own more than one search site. This means searches at different sites may be combined into one overall figure for the company's entire network. The notes below provide more information of what's in each share. Remember, in all cases, only activity by those in the US is measured, even if those in the US go to a site run by a company outside the US, such as Google UK.

  • Google: Shows searches at any Google-branded web site such as Google.com or Google Images.
     
  • Yahoo: Shows searches at any Yahoo-branded web site such as Yahoo.com or Yahoo Local. Does NOT include searches at the Yahoo-owned sites of AltaVista, AllTheWeb and Overture.
     
  • MSN: Shows searches at any MSN-branded web site such as MSN Search.
     
  • AOL: Shows searches at any AOL-branded web site such as AOL Search. Does NOT include searches at AOL-owned Netscape Search (this is on the chart separately) or probably other AOL-owned sites.
     
  • Ask: Shows searches at Ask Jeeves but not Ask Jeeves-owned Teoma. Does NOT show searches at the Ask Jeeves-owned sites of MyWay.com, iWon and My Search. These are shown on the chart separately.
     
  • Earthlink: Shows searches at Earthlink.
     
  • Other: Shows searches that occur at other search sites not named on the chart. Any site not listed on the chart can be assumed to have a share that is less than the smallest named site (IE, My Search is the lowest named search site with a 0.7% share. Other sites will have shares less than this).

Share Of Searches Trend

The chart below shows how the share of searches has changed over the past few months, for those search sites with a share of 5 percent or higher:

Search Provider View

The illustrations above shows the share of searches received by particular search engines that share the same brand name, for July 2005. However, some companies run multiple search engines under different brands. In addition, not all search engines use their own technology. Instead, they may outsource to others for search listings, both editorial and paid. The chart below shows the share of searches on a search provider basis.
Search Networks

Percent Of Edit Listings

Percent Of Paid Listings

Google

54%

59%
Yahoo

23%

35%
MSN

13%

0%
Ask

5%

0%
Others/Mix

6%

6%
Total

100%

100%

Important notes on the consolidation above:

  • Google: Provides both editorial and paid listings to AOL (AOL Search and AOL-owned Netscape Search) and Earthlink. Provides paid listings to Ask Jeeves, other than a relatively minor amount Ask sells directly. Ask will begin selling more directly as of Aug. 2005.
     
  • Yahoo: Provides most of MSN's paid listings, other than a relatively minor amount MSN sells directly.
     
  • Ask: Provides all the editorial results on Ask Jeeves itself. Editorial results on other Ask-owned sites may come from Ask and other providers.
     
  • Others/Mix: The majority of both types of listings come from either Google or Yahoo, but it's impossible to break this out further based on the limited top ten list provided.

 

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