Nielsen: US Search Volume Down 16% While Bing Jumps

[drall]

uh wow! Yes google dropped another 1% MoM but the this next statement has earth shattering effects.

"The number of searches conducted in the U.S. over the last year has decreased by 16% from 10.5 billion in July 2009 to 8.8 billion in July 2010."

The number of searches conducted in the U.S. over the last year has decreased by 16% from 10.5 billion in July 2009 to 8.8 billion in July 2010. MSN/Windows Live/Bing was the only one of the top three engines to have experienced an increase in search volume – a 28% increase from 0.9 billion to 1.2 billion.

[blog.nielsen.com...]

[tedster]

Absolutely. And it doesn't even take a mobile app to replace some search functionality. Has anyone noticed these new personalized "newspapers" built from your Twitter stream?

Here's a new GigaOm article [gigaom.com] about the one I see more and more. It's called paper.li and it's making some rapid headway in the SEO community. In fact, people are building their personal paper and then sharing it. It's sort of a meta-Twitter.

So in addition to competition from apps, we also have social networks replacing at least some search functions. The idea here is "if something is important or interesting, it will eventually make its way to you through your social network".

[edited by: tedster at 7:42 am (utc) on Aug 30, 2010]

[Whitey]

I guess that a demand graph might also show :

-few new adopters for internet search - little to no growth
-existing users know what they want , so don't need to search for it - downward trend
-better websites, better definition within first time search means less searches - downward trend
-reduced economic activity - downward trend

An irony might be that Google helped us find it , now we don't need it.

[wildbest]

better definition within first time search means less searches

So, better SEs -> less searches?!

[maximillianos]

I never really used search for my more common daily stuff that I now do through apps. I did however use to bookmark such sites and visit them directly. Now I simply use a glorified bookmark which is all apps really are. In fact some apps just point to a mobile version of the site just not run through a browser.

I don't think apps are the end of search. Apps are bookmarks which have always existed. Search is used when you don't have a resource bookmarked to answer you question or interest.

[frontpage]

I am surprised that no one has mentioned that the affects that the terrible economy has had on travel, business, and purchases.

The last GDP figures for the USA were literally cut in half from previous estimates.

People/businesses are making less purchases and traveling less requiring less information.

Plus, throw in the fact that for the first time ever there was an actual decrease last month in the total number of cable/dsl subscribers in the USA - so less access to the internet.

[edited by: lawman at 2:28 pm (utc) on Aug 30, 2010]

[drall]

Whitey summed it up well.

I feel the two big factors are

- Economy

I know we are purchasing much less and the research/searches that goes with that is gone.

- Facebook

My two daughters entire generation is glued to fb, fb on phones, fb on laptops, fb as start page, fb fb fb. It's quite insane and now we are seeing mid 30s friends becoming fb addicts like crazy.

[iThink]

Why is no one in this thread talking about the fact that Bing is on the roll? They are gaining ground rapidly. Looks like search is no longer going to be a one-horse race.

[maximillianos]

I think the fb craze is unhealthy for society. I've watched everyone and their grandma sign up and go nuts. Now a lot of them are pulling back and even deactivating. Time will tell.

[indyank]

The 16% decline, if it were true (as i am not sure of how accurate these reports are), would be a gain for Twitter, Facebook, youtube and the like...

There was a time when people had to google for news and not anymore...people spend more time on social networks than on google...So, this doesn't surprise me and I wouldn't attribute the decline to the apps alone......

but then there are markets other than U.S where the number of internet users will constantly rise and more than compensate for the decline...

[dataguy]

I think facebook is a big part of it. I know a lot of people who spend days on the Internet without ever leaving facebook. To them, facebook IS the Internet.

The current issue of Wired has a feature article "The Web is Dead." it basically says that traffic over port 80 now makes up only 25% of Internet traffic. I'm not sure that this means the Web is dead, but it does indicate a lot of traffic is being delivered through apps.

[Rugles]

If the search engines are always improving results then people may be doing less searches to find what they want. It's simple but very possible.

This was my first guess. People are using more long tail searches the first time and finding the information on the first SERP they get.

Instead of typing in 10 different searches before they get a SERP that is useful. People are getting really good at using search engines and that has to have consequences.

[dataguy]

I think facebook is a big part of it. I know a lot of people who spend days on the Internet without ever leaving facebook. To them, facebook IS the Internet.

The current issue of Wired has a feature article "The Web is Dead." it basically says that traffic over port 80 now makes up only 25% of Internet traffic. I'm not sure that this means the Web is dead, but it does indicate a lot of traffic is being delivered through apps.

[J_RaD]

I think the fb craze is unhealthy for society. I've watched everyone and their grandma sign up and go nuts. Now a lot of them are pulling back and even deactivating. Time will tell.

I agree, i think FB, twitter, now dying myspace and being connected 24/7 via a cell phone is putting everyone in A.D.D mode! nobody can focus on anything anymore because they are being pulled in 100,00 directions every second.

[trader]

Apps finally starting to relace Google as a preferred means of navigation and web usage.

Can you please expand on that? I hear others saying that too but don't understand. I do not have iphone or other Apple devices or ever use Apps. So are Apple users dominating the internet and not searching? How can apps replace search when they do not search but I imagine are tied to a specific website? Very confused about this issue.

[ddogg]

Searches didn't drop, give me a break. Search is still growing. I mean Google's revenue would not have increased by so much if they lost searches. They would have had to double AdWords prices or cut AdSense shares in half, which they did not do.

TV didn't kill radio and apps won't kill search.

[StoutFiles]

Why is no one in this thread talking about the fact that Bing is on the roll? They are gaining ground rapidly. Looks like search is no longer going to be a one-horse race.

I think more people are acknowledging that search in general is declining.
Big Google Loss + Small Bing/Yahoo gain = Small Loss in Overall Search Users

[physics]

I think Facebook and Twitter are taking away a bigger share of eyeballs that would otherwise be searching than apps.

[JoeSinkwitz]

Ddogg is correct; search is just fine. I would be curious if the Nielsen methodology of determining a search has changed at all, or if they are now filtering obvious volume fluffing that wasn't caught before.

Taking into account seasonality across a wide portfolio I do not see any declines in search beyond what can be explained from CTR variance due to ranking differences.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Twitter is just a fad. If facebook or Google build a twitter-like app and include it into their social networks a standalone twitter may start to decline. Maybe not, twitter got it right by letting users create custom interfaces for it. The jury is still out.

I think people search less because they are spammed with everything they might ever want to know at every turn. I'll never search for the weather again, I see the reports in 12 different places every day by just casually browsing my favorite sites.

I still remember "going online" to "check out the weather forecast" before every family outing... not anymore.

[StoutFiles]

Twitter is just a fad. If facebook or Google build a twitter-like app and include it into their social networks a standalone twitter may start to decline. Maybe not, twitter got it right by letting users create custom interfaces for it. The jury is still out.

I used to think it was just a fad, but celebrities love it. It's the "hey, listen to me!" without the "oh god I was tagged in that picture?" Twitter will thrive as long as the rich and famous keep using it, and more celebrities are jumping on board each month. Sorry, but Twitter's here to stay.

[tedster]

I keep hearing Craig Ferguson's theme music "Check Ze Tweets" running in my head whenever we discuss Twitter. (Und also emails!}

I agree, Twitter is well beyond fad status. For now it seems to fall into three camps "Broadcasting", "Listening" and "Discussing". Problem is it's not so good for "discussing" right now, and that's what social media should be about.

However, none of those three are generating any searches. And Twitter search itself is not what Nielsen's looking at. It's very limited anyway right now.

[networkliquidators]

Instead of users searching for information, they just simply stop and choose to let others provide them with extremely useful or most of the time, useless information they don't need via Twitter.

Myspace is alright, but who really needs to index it to find out Julie isn't sleeping with Melvin anymore?

[subhankar ray]

Recession is affecting number of new born... why not search?

[blogs.abcnews.com...]

[karter]

what if Facebook where to get hold of a really good search engine they could probably afford it

[J_RaD]

they did, bing

if you noticed bing powers all of facebook search

[briggidere]

Another contributor:
The PPC managers have gotten so good at writing ad copy that they are getting the highest CTR's since they started. And with the continuous landing page development, people are finding what they want much more easily. Google's profit's go up and searches go down.

[graeme_p]

What does this mean:

Nielsen counts and reports explicit searches only. Nielsen does not count contextual searches.

I can find at least three different definitions of "contextual search" on the web. Depending which they mean, this could be unimportant, the right thing to do, or make the numbers very misleading.

I am very sceptical about Bing taking a lot of market share because I so rarely hear about Bing anywhere other than Webmaster World, and occasionally on tech sites like Slashdot: the only time I can think of a ordinary user even mentioning it is my sister saying, in the course of a phone call "what is 'Bling', they said on the radio that is is better than Google". OK, this am not in the US and Bing has definitely done best in the US, but I am still not convinced.

[ByronM]

I am very sceptical about Bing taking a lot of market share because I so rarely hear about Bing anywhere other than Webmaster World...

Bing is on facebook (its the default search), slate, msnbc, iphone, Foursquare and tons of other active sites. those refers alone could account for consistent growth as people actually click & try the searches and may be impressed. (especially over live.com search)

[StoutFiles]

Searches didn't drop, give me a break. Search is still growing. I mean Google's revenue would not have increased by so much if they lost searches. They would have had to double AdWords prices or cut AdSense shares in half, which they did not do.

...Or increase the number of users of both, which they did do.

[Freedom]

I heard a rumor the other day that someone actually found what they were looking for when using Google.

I couldn't confirm it though. It was just a rumor.