Google Searches at 63% of the Search Market for August 2008

Microsoft, Yahoo, Ask and AOL lose. Google wins. Wins what? ... for having the most people use it as a search engine for core search sites. 63% of all users in the comScore Core Search Report used Google searches in August; this percentage increased from June.

But not so fast! I'd usually take this data for what it's worth and run with it. However, after hearing Jen-chien Yu speak to our class on September 17 about taking precautions when using data and/or statistics from the internet, I decided to check out the data used in this blog. The chart below is taken straight from the blog, so notice where it says the data came from.

After looking at the data, I decided to check out the comScore Core Search Report too. I found out that ComScore used an online search query, qSearch 2.0, to collet the data used in this blog. comScore uses the following programs to collect its data:

The comScore Media Metrix product suite includes:

• Ad Metrix
• Ad Network Reporting
• Brand Metrix
• Campaign Metrix
• Campaign R/F
• Extended Web Reporting
• Hispanic Services
• LocalScore
• Local Market Reporting
• Media Metrix 2.0
• Plan Metrix
• qSearch 2.0
• Segment Metrix H/M/L
• Video Metrix
• World Metrix

I have a question: how do these programs collect the data from peoples' computers? Through cookies? That's creepy. The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) gave comScore nothing but positive reviews, which is good. Also, the company is publicly traded, so that probably means its site isn't bogus. If anyone has any questions about any data collected by them, they cal call a toll free number for immediate answers to their questions. In summary, it seems like the data used in this article is pretty reputable.

Personally, I'm not surprised that well over half of the people in this survey primarily use google. I have google's homepage on my Mac's bookmarks bar in both Safari and Firefox. It's the first search I usually go to because it usually yields the most results. Plus, I've been using it - and only it - for much of my life, as I grew up in a very technology-oriented world.

Google is currently an oligopoly. Will it ever turn into a monopoly? They sad bad habits die hard. I agree because I know it would take quite a bit of effort for me to begin using another search engine as my primary search engine, which is an example of how the company is turning into a monopoly. If more and more kids growing up in our technology savvy world continue to grow up using Google as a primary search engine, I think Google may eventually turn into a monopoly.