Study: Google remains undisputed king of search
Yahoo, Microsoft lag behind in annual U. of Michigan user satisfaction survey
August 18, 2009 05:04 PM ETComputerworld - Google search is holding tight to its top position in the hearts of U.S. consumers, according to a new study.
The annual University of Michigan study, which was conducted by ForeSee Results, shows that for the second year in a row, Google scored a strong 86 out of 100 on a scale rating of customer satisfaction. That's nine points higher than the second-place finisher, Yahoo.
The study was conducted before Microsoft's Bing search service was released earlier this summer. Nevertheless, Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results, said that it will be a long uphill climb for Bing to hurt Google's position among satisfied search users.
"Google is unquestionably king of search, so the only competition is for second place," said Freed, in a statement. "The research was done before Bing entered the market, so we don't know what effect its entry will have. But Google's customers are pretty happy and have little reason to try something new, so Bing has a real uphill battle ahead."
The university noted that Google, Yahoo, Microsoft (rated 75 for its older search technology) and Ask.com (74) each maintained their ratings from last year year. AOL, with a 1% rise to a 70, was the only portal or search engine to show an increase.
The study is based on responses from 11,000 U.S. computer users surveyed during the second quarter of this year.
The ongoing search battles between Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have recently intensified.
Last month, Microsoft and Yahoo announced that they are partnering up on a search and online advertising deal. The long-anticipated deal will have Microsoft's Bing search engine powering Yahoo's sites, while Yahoo sells premium search advertising services for both companies.
The deal is geared to hit Google with a united force much greater than what either Microsoft or Yahoo could muster alone. Individually, neither company has much of an effect on Google's overwhelming search market share. Together, though, they hope to at least make a dent.
But Google hasn't been resting on its laurels as its competitors have shifted gears.
Last month, Google took the training wheels off several key hosted Google Apps offerings that have spent years in beta-test mode, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk and Google Docs. Analysts were quick to note that it's a move geared toward making Google Apps more appealing to enterprise users.
And earlier this month, Google kicked off a monthlong ad campaign for its online suite of enterprise office applications. The campaign will have the search giant leasing billboard space in four major U.S. cities -- New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston. The billboards will have a different message for commuters to take in each workday.
Additional Resources



White Papers & Webcasts
The 2009 Handbook of Application Delivery
Learn how to become better with application delivery.
Aligning IT to Business: The Rising Importance of Application Delivery Networks
Application Delivery Networking (ADN) will play a vital role in helping enterprises incorporate strategic technologies to achieve business initiatives.
Unified Application Delivery
By providing a unified Application Delivery Networking platform, F5 BIG-IP offers the ability for organizations to adopt a single platform for all its...
Preparing Your Business Services for the Future
Would you trust your network monitoring tools enough to know when something is truly halting a business service?
ROI of Application Delivery Controllers
How modern offload technologies in Application Delivery Controllers can drastically reduce expenses in traditional and virtualized architectures, with a fast ROI.
BMC Application Performance and Analytics: Predictive Intelligence in Action
See the highlights of BMC's Application Performance and Analytics today!
Gartner: Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers, 2009
The market for products to improve the delivery of application software over networks remains dynamic and innovative. Vendors focused on solving enterprises' most-pressing...
IPAM: Slashing Network Costs
Slashing Network Costs by Consolidating and Automating Core Network Services
Gartner: Load Balancers are Dead
This research shifts the attention from basic load-balancing features to application delivery features to aid in the deployment and delivery of applications.
Extending Client Refresh - 11 Steps to Maximize Savings
Register Now!
Computerworld Reports
Disaster Recovery & Cost Savings Zone
Thousands of customers world-wide have turned to virtualization solutions from Riverbed as a way to reduce costs.
