The Guardian
topics
Close Box

News From Us:

Our latest report; our new video section; and jobs with paidContent.org and paidContent:UK


Most-Searched Term on Microsoft’s Live Search Is ... ‘Google’

imageMicrosoft’s Live Search revamp apparently cannot come soon enough. Hitwise data shows that the most commonly searched term on Live Search over the last four weeks has been “Google,” accounting for one percent of all queries. Number two? “Yahoo.”

Granted, many people who go to Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) to search are hoping to go elsewhere too. Or maybe they are flat-out confused. “Google” is the 10th-most searched term on Google itself (!)

More after the jump, including the top five search queries for Yahoo, Google and Microsoft.

Yet the percentage of searchers who obviously want to get away is greatest on Live Search. “Yahoo,” “Google,” “Google.com” and “Yahoo.com” searches together account for about 2.7 percent of all queries on Live Search, while “Yahoo,” “Yahoo.com” and “Google” queries make up only 0.4 percent of all searches on Google. Similar queries account for about 1.4 percent of searches on Yahoo.

That appears to back up Microsoft’s admission that it has not done a good enough job of convincing users why they should try its search engine. It also indicates that Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) cannot simply buy market share by landing big distribution deals for Live Search. Yes, they will be more likely to land on the Live Search page, but they might just as likely to navigate away to the competition. A Microsoft spokeswoman said the company had no comment.

A Live Search overhaul is expected later this spring. The latest date being tossed around for the release is June 2, according to Liveside.net, when Microsoft’s Online Services President Qi Lu is set to deliver the keynote address at the SMX Advanced search conference in Seattle.

Google

Craigslist (0.45%)
MySpace (0.41%)
Facebook (0.34%)
Yahoo Mail (0.24%)
Yahoo (0.22%)

Yahoo

MySpace (0.73%)
Google (0.66%)
Craigslist (0.59%)
Facebook (0.52%)
MySpace.com (0.42%)

Microsoft

Google (1.02%)
Yahoo (0.61%)
MySpace (0.53%)
Yahoo.com (0.48%)
Facebook (0.45%)

Related Stories
Apr 29, 2009 3:25 PM ET
Share

Posted In: Search, Technologies / Formats, Companies, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo

  • Hi

    Its Nice, I got some good information from this article. Its very informative for me.

    :)

  • Frank

    You have to take into account that a lot of users use the Google Bar, Or the Yahoo Bar, The MSN toolbars. So there is a chance they are just typing it in the Toolbar or address bar and the default search engine which may be MSN returns the results. Or not.

  • Bob

    You don't think it's cause Google is that hard to spell for some users. I mean maybe they start at MSN cause it's easier to spell.

  • jenkins

    Right, 1+1= 0!

  • SAVOCA

    MICROSOFT SHOULD GIVE YAHOO AN OFFER YAHOO CAN'T REFUSE.

  • jenkins

    Everything about MSN's online businesses are a joke!

The Economics of Content | paidContent Newsletter

Know something we don’t?

Send Us a News Tip

All tips are anonymous and untraced.

Sponsors

Contributors