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August 08, 2007
Compete has released it’s July search market data. The big news here is that for the second month in a row, Live.com has seen significant growth in usage:
Ask.com was the only search engine to post negative numbers, according to Compete’s data. Google and Yahoo! both showed gains, albeit not as large as percentage-wise as Live.com’s. As I said last month, I’m not making any broad conclusions just yet. I do agree with Compete’s Jeremy Crane - you should never count Microsoft out. But you should also look at any changes in market share (especially big ones) with a skeptical eye. Is something else going on here? Or is Microsoft actually converting more casual searchers into more long-term users? The key here is “long-term”. If Live.com is still pulling in the users in a couple of months, I’ll stand convinced. Otherwise…it could be a fluke. I know Microsoft is pouring a lot of resources into its search services. I like Live.com’s interface and the results themselves are starting to improve (although I still wouldn’t classify them as equal to Yahoo! or Google). What do you think? Is Live.com picking up more loyal users? Or is something else driving people to Microsoft’s search properties?
Comments:
2 Comments posted on "Live.com Continues to Shine in Market Share… But It’s Too Early to Draw Conclusions"
RustyS on August 9th, 2007 at 8:31 am #
I think the increasing penetration of Vista is clearly a major component. As more business/enterprise customers start to jump on board in larger numbers later this year and early next year (as we enter the peak of fiscal year closings/openings) I expect that trend could continue. It’s still a far cry from Google’s marketshare, but they could start breathing down Yahoo’s neck before too long unless Yahoo gets it house in order (which I hope they do.) On a related note, Compete is on the verge of going big-time. After using their new keywords beta I think Hitwise (with their high-end pricing) needs to be VERY afraid. I’m using both and while Hitwise is nice, I just don’t see it being worth the price premium.
Derick on August 9th, 2007 at 9:40 am #
Vista probably is playing a part in Live.com’s expanding share. So are incentives being offered to businesses for using Live Search. Speaking of Vista search, I finally decided to use the “Search the Internet” option from within the Start Menu the other day. And to my surprise it didn’t go to Live.com - it went to Google (which I have set as my default search engine in IE). I just assumed it would use Live.com independently of what I’d set in IE. So maybe Google should focus on getting Vista users to change their defaults in IE instead of trying to force themselves into Microsoft’s anti-trust settlement hearings. Post a comment
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