Ask Google. That's what 46.3% of people searching the web in November 2005 did. Google carried over 2.3 billion search queries during the course of the month, showing what an incredibly well-used resource the internet is becoming. Google is possibly the best-known search engine and it's possibly also the one that gets the most press, but does that make it the best search engine to target for internet marketing purposes?

Whilst we know that everyone has their favourite search engine, let's not forget that although Google carried the largest percentage share of the market, it actually carried well under 50% of the available search traffic, which means that other search engines could be catching up. This in turn makes it all the more important that you pay attention to the rankings you achieve on other search engines. To assume that all of your target market will ask Google when they're looking for your products or services is to wipe out 53.7% of the available traffic.

Ask Google . . . and who else? (Well, us actually)

Yahoo came in second to Google, with 23.4% of searches, followed by MSN search, which processed 11.4%, or over 583 million searches. This is just in one month, remember - but a month in which the search traffic didn't increase over the previous month and the top 5 search engines held their places too.

So what does this tell us as internet marketers? It tells us to stop assuming that people only ask Google when they are searching for information and to take into account the top five search engines when we plan our pay per click and natural optimisation campaigns. It tells us to check out these statistics each month so that we know who's gaining market share, so that we can grab as much of the available traffic as possible. It tells us to keep our eyes on these search engines:

- Google Search
- Yahoo! Search
- MSN Search
- AOL Search
- My Way Search
- Ask Jeeves Search
- Earthlink Search
- Dogpile.com Search
- Netscape Search
- iWonSearch

Most importantly, it reminds us that in one month, there can be over five billion searches on the internet. This just shows what fantastic potential the online market represents. With proper targetting and by paying attention to more than just one search engine, you could increase traffic to your website and increase your return on investment - making sure this market works for you.

Don't ask Google - ask us! We can help you plan your long term approach to internet marketing whilst also showing you the short term rewards. Email info@webevensteurope.com or take a look at our WebTrafficker, WebMags and WebCreator pages to see how we can help.

source: Nielsen/NetRatings