inktomi -MSN visits more than google

[chris]

Hello, i have a 5th rank for my target keyword on google.com
on google.com i have more keywords better ranking.

Yet when i check my visit logs, MSN.com brings almost as many visits then google.com it's been that way for months.

What i'm confused about is, how big is MSN.com compared to google, because MSN brings about 50% less visitor than google.com but i tought yahoo & google are 80% of traffic on the internet?

[bigjohnt]

but i tought yahoo & google are 80% of traffic on the internet?

You are right. Your logs tell you who got there, and from where. They are what I call "counter intuitive".. meaning, if you are getting more traffic from MSN than Google, its an indication that you are ranking better at MSN than at Google, not an indication of which SE gets more traffic, just which one sends YOU more traffic based on your ranking.

(editted on re-read)
You may also be ranking better at MSN for terms that get more traffic, or a combination of the traffic from those terms. MSN also sends you traffic from Looksmart and Overture PPC style, if you have an account there. Your log analysis may include those accounts. (Just a semi-educated guess)

[ratboy]

Microsoft ships Internet Explorer with MSN as the default search engine out there. People as a rule stick to defaults on their computers. So AOL users search with AOL/google and so on... pretty basic.

Once/if users get a little more educated/sophisticated they might switch to google or something, but they usually don't, unless taught to do so.

[bigjohnt]

Good insight ratboy. I agree. I'd never think of that, since the first things we "professionals" do is screw around with the defaults. :)

[ratboy]

I do some network admin stuff for very very low skill computer users, this has given me an insight into what the average user does and how they think about this stuff. I also have many friends who are very very low skill computer users. I believe the numbers are 90 or 95% of all computer users never upgrade their machines, especially things like browsers, after buying them. The more knowledgeable we get, the easier it is to forget this simple fact. Our experience with these machines basically has virtually nothing in common with the average user's experience.

This was one of the core issues of the antitrust trial against Microsoft, since MS knows this fact perfectly well. That's why part of the settlement was making them take their MSN icons of Windows XP, for example.

However, Internet Explorer still ships with MSN as default search engine as far as I know, and there was, at least in 5.5, no way to set google as the default.