IE9 Is Boosting Bing Usage, Study Says

Does the web browser you use say anything about your preferred search engine? It might, according to some data just published by Chitika. After measuring activity across the 80,000 or so sites in its ad network, Chitika reports that Bing usage is tied to which version of Internet Explorer a person uses. Specifically, Bing usage […]

Chat with SearchBot

Does the web browser you use say anything about your preferred search engine? It might, according to some data just published by Chitika.

After measuring activity across the 80,000 or so sites in its ad network, Chitika reports that Bing usage is tied to which version of Internet Explorer a person uses. Specifically, Bing usage increases as users upgrade to newer versions of Internet Explorer.

Bing-by-IE-version

As you can see, Bing usage jumps from 16.9% among IE8 users to 22.9% among IE9 users — that’s a 35% gain.

Is this just a case of IE9 making Bing the user’s default search engine? No, not really. A Microsoft spokesperson says users who upgrade from one version of IE to IE9 will maintain the same preferred search provider they chose previously:

If a user has selected another search provider as the default (via the IE Gallery) in a previous version, that preference will be preserved when upgrading to IE9. Bing is the default on new IE9 installs.

So, it sounds like the explanation for Bing’s popularity among IE9 users is either A) A lot of people are switching from another browser to IE9 and using Bing by default, or B) a lot of IE9 users are upgrading and switching to Bing at the same time.

Google, of course, remains the number one search engine among all IE users. But it’s interesting to note that Google does see a drop-off in usage between IE8 and IE9, corresponding to some degree with Bing’s increase in usage between IE8 and IE9.

Google-usage-by-IE-version

And then there’s Yahoo. According to activity across Chitika’s network, Yahoo users are generally web browser luddites. Ouch.

Yahoo-by-IE-version

Postscript: I should also mention the possible impact on browser/search engine use from deals and partnerships that have been struck over the years between the major search engines and various computer makers. Here are a few of our past stories covering that topic:


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Matt McGee
Contributor
Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

Get the must-read newsletter for search marketers.