10 October 2005

Most people who access the web will conduct searches using just one of the four top search engines.

New research shows that most Internet users will search via Yahoo, MSN, Ask or Google. The four engines currently account for 94 per cent of all searches.

According to Web monitoring firm, Hitwise, only 14 per cent of the currently available search engines are powering almost 100 per cent of all searches.

Google alone is powering 70 per cent of UK searches. According to Hitwise, for every visit to the search engine, users are doing multiple searches, with visitors spending an average of 13 minutes just on Google.

Google UK is far ahead of its closest competitor in the search engine market, with MSN powering just eight per cent of UK searches.

The research was conducted during the same sample four-week period ending October 1 2005.

Google has also recently announced plans to expand its services as a search engine with the development of the Google Reader.

It is a programme that aggregates news from certain websites. Users will be able to subscribe to particular RSS feeds and get regular updates on information relevant to their needs.

© Adfero Ltd

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