Comparing Search Popularity Ratings Services: June To Nov. 2007

I’ve now compiled the latest search popularity stats from Nielsen, comScore, Hitwise, and Compete. That means it’s time to put them all together, to see what a "panel" of ratings services agree on — and don’t agree on — in terms of search engine popularity.

Ordinarily, I’d love to cover an entire year’s worth of data from each
service. Unfortunately, I’ve previously written how changes in rating
methodology mean I can only go back six months for comScore and two months for
Nielsen, at the moment. I can go back a full year for Compete and Hitwise, but
when doing comparisons, I like to have at least three services represented for
any data point. That means I’ve limited the comparison looks below to the past
six months.

My last big comparison like this was done
in March, and I’m
going to lead off with the general explanations I gave back then. First, my
usual caveats for evaluating popularity stats:

• Avoid drawing conclusions based on month-to-month comparisons. Lots
  of things can cause one month’s figures to be incomparable to another month.
  It’s better to see the trend across multiple months in a row.
   
• Avoid drawing conclusions based on one ratings service’s figures.
  Each service has a unique methodology used to create popularity estimates.
  This means that ratings will rarely be the same between services. However, a
  trend that you see reflected across two or more services may give you faith in
  trusting that trend.
   
• Consider Actual Number Of Searches: While share for a particular
  search engine might drop, the raw number of searches might still be going up
  (and thus they might be earning more money, despite a share drop). This is
  because the "pie" of searches keeps growing, so even a smaller slice of the
  pie might be more than a bigger slice in the past. See
  Nielsen NetRatings:
  August 2007 Search Share Puts Google On Top, Microsoft Holding Gains for a
  further explanation of this.

The charts below address my three issues above. They show ratings for each
month over the past six months from multiple services, both share figures and
number of searches (except for Hitwise, which doesn’t report number of searches.
For Nielsen, only the past two months are available). Services shown in the charts:

• CS stands for comScore, and
  comScore Nov. 2007:
  Google Tops Search Share; Yahoo Holds Steady In Number Of Searches
  explains more about the comScore figures used.
   
• NR stands for Nielsen Online,
  and Nielsen Online:
  Nov. 2007 Search Stats See Google On Top explains more about the
  NetRatings figures used.
   
• HW stands for Hitwise, and
  Hitwise Nov. 2007
  Search Stats: Google Near All-Time High; Microsoft Hits All-Time Low
  explains more about the Hitwise figures used.
   
• CP stands for Compete, and
  Compete Nov. 2007
  Search Stats: Google Hits High; Microsoft Steady & Yahoo Declining
  explains more about Compete figures used.

The charts show the share of searches in the United States that each ratings
service estimates each search engine to have. In other countries, shares will be
different — often dramatically so.

Finally, the charts use different scales. Rather than running them all from
zero to 100 percent, I’ve tightened them between low and high marks unique to
each service. This can make ups-and-downs seem more dramatic, but it also means
you can better see specific changes with each service.

Google

Everyone agrees — Google’s share has generally risen over the past six
months, though Hitwise recorded a midway slump.

In terms of number of searches, two say Google’s up by about a half-a-billion
searches, while Nielsen disagrees. (Figures above are in billions).

Yahoo

Again, agreement — Yahoo’s been in general decline over the past six months.

It’s a different picture when considering number of searches at Yahoo. Here,
Yahoo is roughly unchanged over the period, except according to NetRatings,
which also has limited data for the period. (Figures above are in billions).

Microsoft

Compete is the exception on Microsoft, finding it has stayed steady while the
other services see a decline, though comScore too reflects a potential
leveling-off. (Figures above are in billions).

In terms of number of searches, comScore says Microsoft is generally down,
while Compete puts it up.

More Reading?

Looking for some additional reading related to search stats, in terms of
end-of-the-year stuff? While I don’t like month-to-month comparisons for reasons
already stated, TechCrunch had some nice month-to-month looks that you’ll find
listed below:

• 
  2007 In Numbers: Low Traffic Is One Problem Yahoo Doesn’t Have
• 
  2007 In Numbers: More People Using Yahoo Mail This Christmas Than Gmail
• 
  2007 In Numbers: The Ask Mouse Squeaked A Little Louder This Year
• 
  2007 In Numbers: The Year AOL Killed Netscape’s Traffic
• 
  2007 In Numbers: iGoogle Google’s Homegrown Star Performer This Year

Also,

So who’s doing all this searching anyway? from Compete in November has been
on my catch-up list for a good read. Plus, don’t forget our

Stats:
Popularity category here on Search Engine Land, if you need even more
material!