Yahoo Growing Slightly Faster Than Google?
Nielsen//Netratings has released their search engine market share numbers for December 2006, and their year-over-year gains show that Yahoo, while having just under half the market share of Google, is growing faster than Google is. They show Google with 3.035 billion searches in December, up 22.6% from the year before, and Yahoo with 1.412 billion searches, up 30.1% from December 2005. This is kind of shocking, given that conventional wisdom is that Google is outpacing Yahoo, as the Y! slowly falls behind.
The whole chart:
Top 10 Search Providers for December 2006,
Ranked by Searches (U.S.)
| Provider | Searches (000) |
YOY Growth |
Share of Searches |
| ——— | ——– | ——– | |
| Google Search | 3,035,617 | 22.6% | 50.8% |
| Yahoo! Search | 1,412,904 | 30.1% | 23.6% |
| MSN/Windows Live Search | 499,946 | -9.7% | 8.4% |
| AOL Search | 362,140 | 7.8% | 6.1% |
| My Way Search | 141,527 | 4.7% | 2.4% |
| Ask.com Search | 128,452 | 17.2% | 2.1% |
| EarthLink Search | 31,930 | 17.6% | 0.5% |
| Dogpile.com Search | 30,487 | 2.1% | 0.5% |
| Comcast Search | 26,931 | N/A | 0.5% |
| NexTag Search | 26,835 | 123.2% | 0.4% |
Looking at the numbers for December 2004, December 2005, and December 2006, all reveals some interesting results.
Google:
December 2004: 1,414,778
December 2005: 2,475,895
December 2006: 3,035,617
Yahoo:
December 2004: 711,857
December 2005: 1,085,918
December 2006: 1,412,904
You can clearly see that, although Google gained 560 million users in the last year (down from 1.06 billion the year before), and Yahoo gained 330 million (down from 370 million the year before), Yahoo gained a higher percentage over the previous year than Google did. Google had roughly double the market share of Yahoo in 12/04, then 2.4 times the market share in 12/05, and is now back to double the market share in 12/06. In a sense, Yahoo has erased recent losses, getting itself at least back to where it was two years ago, while Google’s growth has slowed.
If things continue at this very specific pace, this is what the next few years will look like:
12/2007:
Google: 3.495 billion
Yahoo: 1.802 billion
12/2008:
Google: 3.855 billion
Yahoo: 2.052 billion
12/2009:
Google: 4.155 billion
Yahoo: 2.262 billion
12/2010:
Google: 4.315 billion
Yahoo: 2.432 billion
12/2011:
Google: 4.375 billion
Yahoo: 2.562 billion
12/2012:
Google: 4.335 billion
Yahoo: 2.652 billion
12/2013:
Google: 4.195 billion
Yahoo: 2.702 billion
12/2014:
Google: 3.955 billion
Yahoo: 2.712 billion
Now, these are awfully imprecise numbers, assuming that the trend of the last two years will continue exactly the same over the following eight years, but it does give you a better idea of how things have trended the last two years. Don’t assume any of these numbers are precise in any way, but if Yahoo outpaces Google 30% to 22% every year, Yahoo can’t be counted out of the game any more. Things are tough at Yahoo, for sure, but there might be a few positive signs to look at.
if the % is rate of expansion … then
22.6% of 3035617 => increase of 686049
30.1% of 1412904 => increase of 425284
so although Yahoo’s expanding faster (relative to it’s current size), it’s still falling behind overall
think i’ve got the calculations about right
- imma
Comment by imma | January 30, 2007
[…] Inside Google at the Blog News Channel noted that Yahoo! is growing at a faster rate than Google (Yahoo’s growth rate: 30.1%; Google’s: 22.6%). Of course, it’s easy to grow faster when you’re half as big. […]
Pingback by sitebuddy.info | January 30, 2007
[…] Inside Google at the Blog News Channel noted that Yahoo! is growing at a faster rate than Google (Yahoo’s growth rate: 30.1%; Google’s: 22.6%). Of course, it’s easy to grow faster when you’re half as big. […]
Pingback by Google Gains, Yahoo & MSN Mixed Bag | Marketing Pilgrim | January 30, 2007
Is Yahoo becoming more relevant or is Google returning less relevant SERPs?
Are the Msn people going to Yahoo or Google?
Comment by Search Engines WEB | January 31, 2007
[…] Yahoo vrs Google Latest Surprise Stats & Trends Latest Search Share Stats/ Trends Released - Are we using Yahoo More, Google Less or Leaving MSN for Yahoo? […]
Pingback by Yahoo vrs Google Latest Surprise Stats & Trends @ Get YOUR FREE Blog | January 31, 2007
You said that Google’s market share was 2x then 1.4x and then 2x and said that was a sign of improvement for Yahoo. Did you mean 2.4x instead of 1.4x? That would make more sense to me…
Comment by Chad | January 31, 2007
[…] Nielsen//Netratings has released their search engine market share numbers for December 2006, read more…. […]
Pingback by Internet Marker » Blog Archive » Search Numbers - Yahoo Increase | February 2, 2007
Chad, you are absolutely right. I misspoke, and I’ve corrected it. Thanks.
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | February 5, 2007
Yahoo has the worst management I have ever seen. They helped Google big time by killed Alltheweb, Altavista..I personally think Alltheweb was working better than Google…
Comment by Wong Seoul | July 20, 2007
I hope yahoo can grow some more in the near future.
Comment by Kris | August 17, 2007