Seventy-six percent of Americans surfing the Internet use a search engine to find what they are looking for, according to a report released by Nielson//NetRatings on February 23, 2004. Further, Nielsen//NetRatings reports that 114.5 million, or 76% of active Internet users, used a search engine during January 2004.

During January, the top five search engines were:

1. Google - 39.4%
   
2. Yahoo - 30.4%
   
3. MSN - 29.6%
   
4. AOL - 15.5%
   
5. Ask Jeeves - 8.5%
   

This top-five list has generally held true over the past year and is followed by Go, Excite, AltaVista, Lycos, Infospace, CNet, and Overture. As search is getting more attention, especially from paid advertisers, each of the major search properties are invested in getting a piece of the action. This has resulted in a veritable Search Engine War. For the past several years, they have been making purchases, mergers, partnerships, and changes to technology in an attempt to attract users away from each other. 

In 2004, the search engine battle has heated up. Google and Yahoo have spent the better part of the last year revving up their search engines in preparation for a battle. Recently, Microsoft announced they would be joining the battle through creating their own search engine. Last week, Ask Jeeves announced several strategic moves to do the same. 

Microsoft gears up to join the search war

In April of last year, Microsoft announced that it would be developing its own search technology for MSN but to this date there have been no announcements as to when they will drop Yahoo/Inktomi. As early as May, the crawlers, MicrosoftPrototypeCrawler and MSNBOT, have been seen crawling the Internet. In October 2003, Microsoft announced it was splitting its MSN division into two units; one to take control of Web communications while the other develops its information portal and targets growth in search technologies.

Google adds 1 billion pages to search

On February 17, 2004, Google announced it achieved a search milestone with immediate access to more than 6 billion items. The collection of 6 billion items includes 4.28 billion web pages, 880 million images, 845 million Usenet messages, and a growing collection of book-related information pages. Google has regularly upgraded its search engine since its debut with 2.5 million pages in 1998. Throughout February, Google has made significant changes to their algorithm in a continued attempt to provide the most relevant content. 

Yahoo! drops Google 

On February 18, 2004, Yahoo! announced that it has created a more comprehensive and relevant search experience for users through the deployment of its own algorithmic search technology. Since that date, Yahoo! began rolling out the new Yahoo! Search Technology and is expected to have Google completely phased out by April 2004, culminating with the inclusion of their (Overture's) paid inclusion program. 

Overture launches a new paid inclusion program

On March 2, 2004, Yahoo! announced that Overture, a wholly owned subsidiary, has launched a new paid inclusion program. The Inktomi, AltaVista and FAST paid inclusion programs were merged into a single service titled "Overture Site Match." The new service will support all engines formerly part of the Inktomi and FAST networks, and will also include listings on Yahoo! Search and AltaVista.

Ask Jeeves increases its market share

On March 4, 2004, Ask Jeeves announced its agreement to purchase Interactive Search Holdings Inc, whose Web properties and businesses include Excite, iWon, My Search, My Way, My Web Search, and MaxOnline. This announcement came shortly after announcing that they would be dropping their paid inclusion program, Index Express XML feed, due to concern that paid inclusion data affected its search relevance.

Online search engines have become prized assets during the past few years as they have developed tools to better connect advertisers with prospective buyers — a skill that has turned into a big moneymaker. The battle for search supremacy will, if nothing else, at least give the average user better search results. For businesses fighting for placement on the search engines, contact us for information on how you can remain competitive on the search engines.