Search Engine Survey
A recent Internet search site survey performed by iProspect shows that today's web users are in fact loyal to the free search engine site of their choice. Loyalty factors obviously include the use of free search toolbars, but interestingly enough the majority are simply down right loyal, and trust their search engine of choice to provide the desired results, even after being presented with three pages of undesirable results.

The survey shows that over 56% of internet users use the same free search engine or directory service when they are looking for information.

Around 30% use a combination of search engines on a regular basis.
A mere 12% responding to the survey said they use different search engines each time.
A total of 87.2% of web users said they are loyal search engine users.
Top Search Engine and Directory Services
If you look at the loyalty rates according to market share, the results indicate the following...

Google 65%
Yahoo 55%
MSN 53%
AOL 48%
Incredibly, the survey shows that over 90% of searches will modify their search and try again with the same search engine even after the first three pages did not yield the results they were looking for. This figure has risen from 70% based on a similar survey in 2002.

This goes to show that since that time, free internet search users have become even more confident in the search engine site of their choice. They trust the search engine to provide the information that they are looking for over their own ability to enter an appropriate search term.

Free Internet Search Toolbars
Not surprisingly, of course, is the free toolbar factor. Nearly 50% of the survey respondents have installed at least one search toolbar on their computer. The most popular are...

The Yahoo Search Toolbar at 22%
The Google Search Toolbar at 19.7%
The MSN Search Toolbar at 17%
The installation of these free search toolbars definitely encourages search engine loyalty. The question is, what will happen when the remaining 50% of internet users download a toolbar?

This could very well impact search engine market share as well as user loyalty statistics... and that would mean a whole new article on the subject.

Which Search Toolbar to Use...

The statistics show that the Google, Yahoo and MSN search site toolbars are close in the running. But it really depends upon which search site you use on a regular basis as to which search toolbar you choose.

Google Deskbar...

Google has done it again. Google has come up with another new and interesting, simple and useful, innovative search tool mades the competitors look lazy and asleep on the job.