Study: Google's search lead not matched by loyalty

Google is the leading search engine, but most people use others, too.

(Credit: Forrester)

Despite Google's dominance of online search in the U.S., the company still isn't the only player in town.

A study by Forrester found that 55 percent use more than one search engine per week, and that 20 percent of searchers use only Google.

"Users find that other search engines are actually more effective for certain things--like looking up stock quotes or finding news stories," said analyst Shar VanBoskirk in the study.

According to the study, 69 percent of people use Google at least weekly, compared to 50 percent for Yahoo, 18 percent for AOL, and 14 percent for Microsoft.

[Super2online]

Its good to see that lots of people recognize that Google is not the be all end all of search engines. I too have found the many other search engines offer better results in certain topics. This gives me hope that humanity is once again thinking for themselves, rather than playing follow the leader in this regard.

[SneezingPanda]

"This gives me hope that humanity is once again thinking for themselves, rather than playing follow the leader in this regard."
Well, this is kinda no brainer. You can quit google search at any time because you are not hooked. I wish humanity will think further than it's noose when making strategic decisions. With this regard collective thinking still remains as rudimentary as the caterpillars nerve system: you touch it from one side and it will bend it that direction. Think of choosing Microsoft Windows in '93 or borrowing money in '07.

[bugma302]

My mother-in-law uses both Google and Yahoo.

I watched in stunned amazement as her homepage came up with Yahoo and she then proceeded to type the word google into the search box.

[gyi_tsakalakis]

Hence why niche and industry-specific search engines may be the only davids to stand against Googliath.