'Net Features : hitwise

Search Market Share and Longer Queries

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:45:00 GMT

Hitwise released data today revealing that while Google still commands 64% of the search market share, Bing-powered search is on the rise.

Google accounted for 64.42 percent of all U.S. searches conducted in the four weeks ending April 2, 2011, while Bing-powered search comprised 30.01 percent. The remaining 69 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis report accounted for just 5.58 percent of U.S. searches.

Perhaps the most interesting angle is that Yahoo! Search and Bing achieved the highest “success rates” in March 2011 with 80% of searches executed resulted in a visit to a website. Google achieved a success rate of 66 percent. This may imply that

Longer search queries — five to eight words — were down 3 percent from February 2011 to March 2011. Shorter search queries — those averaging one to four words long — increased 1 percent from February 2011 to March 2011. One-word searches comprised the majority of searches, amounting to 24.40 percent of all queries, a 2 percent increase from February 2011 to March 2011.

It’s Official (But Still Debatable) – Facebook Overtakes Google

Administrator — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 15:32:00 GMT

Year-end data just released from Experian Hitwise indicates that Facebook was the most-visited website in the U.S. in 2010, surpassing longtime holder of the top spot, Google. Hitwise previously reported that Facebook’s monthly traffic had overtaken that of Google back in March, but this is the first time the social networking site can be pronounced the winner for an entire year.

Or can it?

Google sites, the network that includes No. 2 Google and No. 5 YouTube and many others, remains the cumulative winner with 9.85 percent of all Web visits in 2010. Facebook was second overall with 8.93 percent, followed by Yahoo sites with 8.12 percent.

But Facebook.com was the most-visited Web page between January 1 and November 30, followed by Google.com, Mail.yahoo.com, Yahoo.com and YouTube.com. Adding insult to injury over at the Googleplex today is the fact that Facebook was also the year’s No. 1 search term in 2010, meaning that much of the traffic Facebook enjoyed on its way to this milestone came to the site by way of its fiercest competitor.

The actual meaning of the new rankings in terms of search vs. social as it relates to marketers and Web business is a matter of debate, but one thing is certain from the latest statistics. The 10 most-visited websites in the U.S. accounted for more than one-third of the overall traffic in 2010, gaining 33 percent of the year’s total visits.

That number represents a 12-percent increase over 2009, which may cast a shadow on predictions about the rise of local commerce and the emergence of small businesses on the Web. The data clearly indicates that the gap is widening between a handful of giant properties and the rest of the commercial Web. But by the same token, most small Web businesses owe much of their success if not their very existence to Google and Facebook.

Facebook is Dominating the Internet

Mike Phillips — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 01:15:00 GMT

If you ever needed convincing that social media should be a part of your marketing mix - this is it.

According to Hitwise, Facebook's traffic increased a whopping 60 percent between November 2009 and November 2010. Even more stunning is that Facebook accounted for nearly one-fourth of page views and 10 percent of all Internet visits. That's well over Google's 7 percent.

"The market share of page views for Facebook.com was 24.27 percent last week, 3.8x the volume of the second-ranked website, YouTube.com, with 6.93 percent," said Heather Dougherty, Experian Hitwise's director of research.

If Google ever faced true competition, this is it.

Bing Continues to Gain in U.S. Search Market

Linc Wonham — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:30:00 GMT

It’s been a difficult couple of weeks over at Microsoft with the official pulling of the plug on the Kin project followed closely by a round of layoffs. But the latest report from Hitwise on the U.S. search market may help brighten the mood a little bit — at least by a few percentage points.

That’s how much Microsoft’s search engine Bing gained in June, recording a 7-percent growth to claim 9.85 percent of the U.S. market. Google still dominates with 71.65 percent of the market share, but its position actually slipped in June with a 1-percent drop.

Microsoft’s new search partner Yahoo! sits between Google and Bing with 14.37 percent of the market share, and no change in June, and Ask.com rounds out the list with a 2.19-percent share. All things considered, Microsoft has to be satisfied with Bing’s progress as it heads into its search partnership with Yahoo! later this summer.

Bing Gaining Search Share; Long Tail Booming

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:52:00 GMT

An announcement from HitWise this morning indicated that Google accounted for 71.49 percent of all U.S. searches for the four weeks ending Jan. 31, 2010 - a one percent decrease month-over-month. This would normally be nothing more than a footnote considering the holiday shopping season has ended, if it were not for the fact that Bing increased its search market share 5% in the same period.

While still far behind Google, Bing is clearly making some headway. According to the Hitwise data, search engines continue to be the primary way Internet users navigate to industry categories. In January, Google sent the most visits to sites in the Automotive, Health, Shopping and Travel categories, but Bing saw double-digit growth in the same categories.

Finally, longer search queries (those searches of five to more than eight words in length) continue to increase. Between December 2009 and January 2010, queries of eight or more words increased 6 percent. Shorter search queries (those of one to four words) in the same period fell 1 percent month over month, but accounted for nearly 80% of all searches in January.

Longer Search Queries are Flat

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:30:00 GMT

Long Live the Long Tail!

Buried beneath the news that Google once again dominated the world of search with over 71% market share (as reported by Hitwise) was a very valuable bit of information related to the percentage of U.S. clicks by the number of keywords in the query.

"Longer search queries," according the announcement, "averaging searches of five to more than eight words in length, were flat between October and September 2009".Searches of eight or more words however increased 1 percent while shorter search queries (those averaging one to four words long) were flat from month to month. Searches of one word comprise the majority of searches (24.13% of all queries) but based solely on the chart below you can see how important it is to focus on search phrases of two to six words.

Voucher Search Variations - UK

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:11:00 GMT

UK Internet searches for discount vouchers have increased by 47.5% over the last 12 months, reflecting that British consumers are hunting for bargains and discounts during the recession.

While over the last 12 months UK Internet searches for generic terms such as ‘voucher’ or ‘discount voucher’ have decreased or remained flat. Hitwise Research Director Robin Goad argues that the growth in voucher searches has come from people searching for ever more sepccific deals and discounts for participator products or retailers.

During July 2008, UK Internet users searched for 8,300 distinct variations of search terms that contained either the word ‘voucher’ or ‘vouchers’; by July 2009, this figure had more than quadrupled to 34,200.

Consumers clearly are becoming more sophisticated as they search for deals and you can bet the website that this phenomenon is not exclusive to the UK alone.

Top 10 voucher searches in the UK, 4 weeks ending 01/08/09:
1. ‘voucher codes’ (8.4% of voucher-related searches UK over the period)
2. ‘pizza express voucher’ (3.9%)
3. ‘discount vouchers’ (2.9%)
4. ‘vouchers’ (2.2%)
5. ‘my voucher codes’ (2.0%)
6. ‘restaurant vouchers’ (1.9%)
7. ‘tesco vouchers’ (1.6%)
8. ‘pizza hut vouchers’ (1.4%)
9. ‘dominos vouchers’ (1.3%)
10. ‘tesco voucher codes’ (1.2%)

The Traffic State of Bing, Microsoft's Decision Engine

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:30:00 GMT

Microsoft's new search engine Bing has done a notable job of earning the respect of both users and Web professionals that I have spoken with.

So what's the state of Bing? How are they performing?

Hitwise took a close look and found that Bing ranked 17th among all websites (out of 450,000) - up from 5120 the week before the official launch. Within the Search Engines category, Bing ranked 4th out of the search engines tracked by Hitwise and Bing Image Search ranked 15th for the week ending June 6, 2009.

For both the US and Canadian markets, MSN was the leading website for referrals to Bing and represented 36% and 37% of upstream traffic, respectively. In terms of where Bing was sending traffic, in the US, the highest share of traffic visited websites in the Shopping & Classifieds category followed by Entertainment and Business & Finance.

Paid Search Down, Organic Up?

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:41:00 GMT

Hitwise released data which seems to indicate that the recession has taken its toll on search marketing, as the share of search traffic coming from paid listings is decreasing at the expense of organic traffic. Others don't blame the recession at all. Either way, it's a dramatic change.

In the four weeks to May 9, 2009, 7.25% of search engine traffic to All Categories of websites was from paid clicks. This compares to 9.84% in the same four-week period in 2008 - representing a 26% decline in the share of paid clicks.

The share of paid clicks to Insurance websites was down 22% for the year, Retail 500 down 20% and Travel Agencies down 25%. The steady and consistent decline across categories indicates that this is not an isolated or seasonal variance.

35.75% of clicks on searches for "orbitz" were on paid listings in the four weeks to May 9, 2009. This compares to 46.56% in the same four-week period in 2008. This represents a 23% decrease year over year.

Will the decline in paid search numbers overall result in a lower average cost per click for your industry? Is the reduction simply a shift to more refined management of paid search terms? Will this ultimately provide Web marketers with more exposure for their organic listings? Share your comments below.

craigslist Booms in Recession

MaureenA — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Demand for classified sites has increased dramatically, according to a report released by Hitwise. Its report showed visits to classified sites increased by 84 percent in one year. Numbers increased the most between December 2008 and February 2009. To highlight the demand for craigslist visits, Hitwise divided the data into two categories: craigslist sites and all other classified sites. The category for all other classifieds was mostly flat throughout the year while craigslist's numbers increased rapidly. The report notes that craigslist visits increased 90 percent, while visits to all other classifieds grew 22 percent.

Heather Hopkins, senior online analyst, Hitwise, reports that craigslist users are typically from higher income households, but the data from this report suggest that lower income households are now turning to the site for resources.

Are you part of the increased traffic that helped craigslist boom 90 percent?

__________

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Major Increase In Voucher Searches

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:44:00 GMT

According to Hitwise, one in every 200 visits to an online retail website in the UK now comes from voucher sites like Hot UK Deals or My Voucher Codes.

UK Internet searches for discount vouchers (coupons) have increased by 133 percent over the last 12 months, while visits to voucher websites have gone up by 45 percent, according to Hitwise. During the 12 weeks ending 15 November, UK Internet users searched for over 20,000 different variations on the term ‘voucher’, with many of these looking for discount voucher codes to use at the online checkout.

If you're a merchant and you're not using coupon/discount sites as part of your online marketing mix, now is the time to get started! While the data provided by Hitwise was for the UK market, you can be sure that (considering the current global recession) consumers will be looking for deals in the US as well.

SES Chicago Highlights: Search Industry Update

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:06:00 GMT

The Search Engine Strategies session "Search Industry Update" was an informative session, especially if you need to convince those holding on to the marketing purse strings on how big the effort needs to be.

Search marketing is the largest online ad format - hands down. In fact, paid search accounts for nearly 45% of the global online ad spend - remaining one of the fastest growing online ad formats. The panel focused on trends in search marketing, growth drives, search spending and CPC trends, search penetration and overall adoption.

The following are highlights from the individual speakers:

First up was Roger Barnette from Search Ignite:

Search market share is stable; Google leads the way, followed by Yahoo and Microsoft
Big (seasonal) spend comes in the fourth quarter
The economy did not affect third-quarter spend
All engines have seen increases in impressions (especially Yahoo)
A mid Q4 report reveals a lower average order value, that conversion rate was holding steady and that spend is up (33%). This is not uncommon year-over-year (considering the holiday season) but it remains impressive.
Search is the best channel, and it's still profitable.
Advice: Monitor first quarter closely.

Next up was Heather Dougherty from Hitwise:

Google search engine share is at 72% (even more pronounced internationally, but 96% are return visits
Google share has accelerated the past five months
Branded search terms account for 88% of US queries at Google
Navigational queries are increasing (walmart.com, myspace.com)
The conversation is shifting to social networks; 65% increase, 3-fold increase in the past three years, e.g. 4% of searches for "virgin mobile" went to social networks
Regarding paid search effectiveness, generic search terms receive the highest share of paid search, which is driving up keyword costs.

Rafeal Zarilla of BankRate.com was next:

According to a McKinsey report, 91% are using online advertising, 50% plan to maintain or exceed spend
It's not only about numbers, but people too. "There is a social science behind what we do."
It's important to stay in front of consumer trends and use all available tools
Search is not part of a vacuum, but rather part of an ecosystem. As such, use search combined with display, as you'll get a profoundly better return (citing a Yahoo! Research report from Dec. 2006).
The term du jour is "engagement mapping," that is, looking at everything within the purchase funnel to determine overall effectiveness.

Jon Stewart of Nielsen Online completed the session:

85% of people are online (not including China), accessing 42 billion search pages
France is growing fast (76% year-over-year growth), as is Spain (28% year-over-year growth)
Searches are not loyal; 42% use Google exclusively, 10% use Yahoo exclusively and 2% use MSN only.
Heavy searcheres are even less faithful (no definition of how big the heavy searcher population actually is)
Finance and retail are seeing lower impressions
Marketers should look at organic search and social networks as prime branding opportunities.

E-Commerce & Economy Not So Hot

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:09:00 GMT

Comscore released its Q3 2008 retail e-commerce report, which showed that online spending grew just 6 percent in Q3 2008 versus the same period last year, a slowdown compared to the year-over-year growth rates of 12 percent in Q1 and 13 percent in Q2 2008. Couple this report with a HitWise report that US visits to online retail websites have declined for the eight consecutive week to 2.92% of all US web visits. According to HitWise, the declines are the first decreases in retail traffic this year and reflect consumers decreased spending.

comScore also surveyed more than 1,000 consumers in October 2008 to gather attitudes on the economy. The study revealed that the majority of consumers are fearful of the future, with 82 percent stating they are more afraid about the economic future than ever before. Additionally, only a quarter (26 percent) of respondents said they believe the economy will be ‘better’ a year from now.

Coupon Websites Receive Traffic Boost

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:59:00 GMT

HitWise is reporting that the weekly share of U.S. visits to a custom category of coupon websites have increased 56% for t week ending June 6th, 2008, as compared to the same week last year.

Coupons.com received the largest incremental gain with 29% growth, with market share increasing 190 percent from the same time last year. Coupon Mountain and Eversave followed with 14 and 6 percent, respectively. If you've got a few coupons to share, these online destination might be a good location to generate some attention which could lead to real sales.

Search engines accounted for 20 percent of the traffic referred to coupon sites and among the top 250 search terms driving traffic to the coupon websites, 60 percent of the search queries include a specific retailer brand or branded product. Additional trends in retail cited by Hitwise include:

visits to comparison shopping websites (U.S.) increase 51 percent year ove year for the week.
visits to discount retailers increased 25 percent, while traditional department stores have increased 15 percent

Plural Search Terms Get Better Results

Mike Phillips — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:52:00 GMT

A recent analysis by Hitwise at SES focused on the difference between searches for a singular term (laptop) and plural term (laptops). The results are pretty significant.

The analysis was conducted using top product searches sending traffic to HitWise's Shopping and Classified category, searching for both the singular and plural terms of the same search query. Value was given as total search volume and percentage of those queries that ended with a visit to a Shopping and Classified site. For example, mobile phone sent 30% of searchers to a Shopping and Classified site with a search volume of (.0014%.) Mobile phones sent 31% with a search volume of (.0066%.) Digital camera, 21.1% (.0011%), Digital Cameras 33.7% (.0027%.) Book, 15% (.0013%), Books, 37.2% (.0019%.)

There were some conflicting terms. LCD TV sent 43.2% (.0020%), while LCD TVs sent only 42.9% (.0010%.) iPod sent 25.2% (.0074%) while iPods sent 33.1% (.0015%). When looking at search volume there are a couple of explanations for this. First is branding - LCD TV is a commonly branded term in the marketplace, but not so much with LCD TVs. In the same way, people know the term iPod but don't use iPods - there are other MP3 players, but only one iPod brand.

Second, there is an element of common sense and usage of the English language working here. If a user is shopping for cameras, they will likely be looking at several different brands and styles, hence the plural, digital cameras. Same goes with phones and books. You have to think about your search terms as a consumer would. Think about it in conversation - "I'm shopping for digital cameras." "I'm shopping for an LCD TV." "I'm shopping for books." "I'm shopping for an iPod."