Study: Top 5 Search Engines See Search Traffic Drop By As Much As 31% Since December 2013

A newly released report from Shareaholic claims the top five search engines — Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask.com and AOL — have all experienced a decline in search traffic since December of 2013.

Using data from December 2013 through May 2014, Shareaholic evaluated aggregate organic search traffic numbers from more than 300,000 publishers reaching an audience of more than 400 million monthly unique visitors.

The report shows Google’s search traffic fell 17 percent between last December and May of this year.

Bing, Yahoo, Ask.com and AOL saw an even bigger drop in search traffic numbers compared to Google, with Yahoo and Bing both experiencing a 31 percent decline.

According to Shareaholic, Google accounts for 17 times more traffic than Bing, Yahoo, Ask.com and AOL combined, but its users are often less engaged.

From the report:

Google searchers are quick to abandon sites they deem unfit to help them solve current issues – on average, 61.26 percent bounce. Also, Google fans, on average, view the fewest number of pages per visit (2.34).

Shareaholic claimed Ask.com, Bing and Yahoo all have higher engagement rates, with users less likely to bounce, and spending more time on a site and viewing more pages per visit.

Search Engine User Engagement Rates (December 2013 – May 2014):

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

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.