Study says U.S. is third, Google is the most popular search engine across five nations.

Think search is hot here in the United States? A new analysis conducted by comScore Networks shows that the United Kingdom has a more developed online search market than the U.S. France, Germany and Canada.

In April, according to comScore's new qSearch Europe product which tracks usage of online search engines by analyzing actual search queries across the top search engines and portals, the average U.K. search engine user conducted 41.8 searches, the highest level of the five countries analyzed. Canada was a close second, with just under 40 searches per search engine user, while American, French and German users conducted between 31 and 35 searches per month.

A multi-country qSearch analysis revealed that the United Kingdom has a more developed online search market than France, Germany, the U.S. and Canada. 

	Search Engine Usage Source: comScore qSearch April 2004   Searches per Search Engine User United Kingdom 91% Canada 80% United States 35% France 14% Germany 8%

By comparing the Internet reach and search engine penetration of Google, MSN, Time Warner (AOL) and Yahoo!, comScore found that the major Internet portals have a significant opportunity to convert existing visitors to search engine users. For example, nearly 80 percent of U.K. Internet users visited MSN-Microsoft sites in April, but just 34 percent of search engine users conducted a search at an MSN search engine during the month.

Likewise, Yahoo! reached 43 percent of the French Internet population in April, but only 23 percent of the country’s search engine users. With the exception of the United States, where Yahoo! leads in search penetration, Google was used by a greater number of people in each of the countries analyzed than any other search engine.

	Internet Reach* and Search Engine Penetration** Source: comScore qSearch April 2004 Canada France United Kingdom United States   Internet Reach Search Penetration Internet Reach Search Penetration Internet Reach Search Penetration Internet Reach Search Penetration Google 74% 65% 53% 65% 62% 69% 43% 47% MSN-Microsoft 96% 46% 72% 27% 79% 34% 71% 40% Time Warner (AOL) 57% 7% 39% 24% 45% 12% 72% 24% Yahoo! 79% 41% 43% 23% 59% 34% 73% 51%

*Internet Reach is defined as the percentage of total Internet users that visited a given property at least once during the month.

**Search penetration is defined as the percentage of total search engine users who conducted at least one search at a given property.

An analysis of the volume of searches conducted at Google, Yahoo! and MSN reveals that while Google is the top engine in all of the countries analyzed, it leads by a significantly larger margin among non-U.S. searchers. Specifically, Google accounted for more than 70 percent of searches conducted at the top three engines by users in Canada, France and the United Kingdom, versus 44 percent in the United States.

	Share of Searches Among Top Three Engines Canadian, French, U.K. and U.S. Internet Users Source: comScore qSearch April 2004 Canada France United Kingdom United States Google Sites 70% 80% 77% 44% Yahoo! Sites 17% 10% 14% 37% MSN-Microsoft Sites 13% 10% 9% 19%

Google’s share advantage in Europe and Canada is a result of both the number of users who search at Google (i.e. search penetration) and the number of searches conducted by these users. For example, the average Google user in the U.K. conducted approximately 39 searches at the engine, compared to 15 searches by the average Yahoo! user, and just nine searches by the average MSN user.

comScore Networks provides unparalleled insight into consumer behavior and attitudes. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 1.5 million consumers who have given comScore explicit permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its patent-pending technology comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes.  comScore consultants apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI.  comScore services are used by global leaders such as Microsoft, Verizon, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Knight Ridder Digital, Nestlé, Wells Fargo & Company, GlaxoSmithKline and Orbitz.