Vigorous competition in the search engine sector

By Peter Vogel

In its monthly analysis of competitive search engine activity for November 2005, comScore Media Metrix www.comscore.com announced that Google and Yahoo! had maintained their lead in the U.S. marketplace.

The survey also showed surprising strength for latecomer MSN-Microsoft which, although not yet in the same range as the top two, had growth figures that suggested a strong three-way race in the search space was a possibility.

Over the past several years this column has featured a number of alternative search engines, alternatives, that is, to the established and best-known products that comprise the bulk of the field.

This latest survey suggests that these other engines and directories face a tough battle. The top three account for around 85 per cent of all searches conducted in the United States in November, and the top five accounted for a whopping 99 per cent.

Year over year figures (see table) show that the top three positions remain unchanged and that chart topper Google may in fact be increasing its dominance over the other two.

Such figures suggest that search is an increasingly difficult segment in which a newcomer might carve a niche of any significance. This may underscore the actions of, for example, IceRocket www.icerocket.com, which is trying to establish a beachhead as a search tool for bloggers.

In top spot (no surprise there) was Google, accounting for almost 40 per cent of American searches in November, comprising some 2.05 billion measured searches. Some distance back and even showing a decline at just under 30 per cent was Yahoo! (1.52 billion searches).

Although quite a way back at just 14 per cent, MSN-Microsoft might yet prove to be a sleeper in these surveys. With year-over-year growth through July 2005 of more than 30 per cent, MSN accounted for 744 million U.S. searches that month.

The Redmond, Wash., company’s late foray into search seems to be paying dividends, and the last chapter in the field is still some way from being written. With so much cash on hand it is conceivable that Microsoft could buy up either the second or fourth place properties.

Mind you, the year-over-year search figures through November are not quite as upbeat. Search pundits are fond of pointing out how Microsoft’s Internet Explorer trumped the then-ubiquitous Netscape Navigator, implying that the same could still happen in search technology.

Also of interest in the most recent comScore search survey is data on the use of dedicated search toolbars. Yahoo! toolbars accounted for 49 per cent of all such searches, slightly ahead of Google’s 46 per cent. However, such toolbars accounted for just 12 per cent of all United States searches in November.

Search remains a very active field. New engines spring up every week, each trying to grab a piece of the overall search pie, if not attempting to knock one of the big boys out of a top-five spot.

As the field matures have you noticed a reduction in “hype” from the search engine companies? Remember when each tried to trump the other in terms of pages indexed? I’ll bet you haven’t even noticed that Google no longer carries that “More than X billion pages indexed” message.

Some other search engines worth a test drive:

Vivisimo
www.vivisimo.com

Picsearch
www.picsearch.com

A9
www.a9.com

MrSapo
www.mrsapo.com

Site of the week

Over the next several weeks you might want to play “keeping up with the Joneses” as you check out property values along your street. For the past couple of years, B.C. Assessment, the provincial crown agency charged with producing annual property assessments, has made such data available through a free online service.

Ostensibly the service is provided to permit property owners to compare their assessments with the values of neighbouring properties for possible appeal purposes. The service, available from Jan. 3 to March 15, may be found at www.bcassessment.bc.ca.

Product of the week

From Israeli company Walletex comes Wallet Flash, a USB storage device about the size of and only slightly thicker than a credit card. Keep your data where it belongs: in your wallet. Check it out at www.walletex.com.

Peter Vogel is a Physics and Computer Sciences teacher at Notre Dame Regional Secondary School (www.ndrs.org). Suggestions and comments may be sent via e-mail to peterv@portal.ca.