Only 6% of Yahoo Users Search

Interesting Results

[xcandyman]

From Alexa:-

I know you have to take their results with a pinch of salt but they have got a listing of what directories are most visited on yahoo.com on is shows shocking results:

1 mail.yahoo.com ~ 36%
2 kids.yahoo.com ~ 7%
3 search.yahoo.com ~ 6%
4 groups.yahoo.com ~ 4%
5 dailynews.yahoo.com ~ 3%

So a massive percentage use yahoo for mail which I expected but only 6% usage for the search feature.

Steve

[chris_f]

Hi Steve,

I don't think a pinch of salt is what's required. I think we should order a JCB for this one ;). I would be suprised if the mail and search functions drop below 95% of the Y! usage. I think it's more like:

search = 60%
mail = 35%
the rest = 5%

I had a chart on this once. Off to find it.

Chris

[Bobby_Davro]

Should that be read as "6% of visits to Yahoo end up as searches", not necessarily "6% of visitors use the search function"?

It may be that 100% of visitors use the search function at some time, but only on 6% of their visits. (?)

[chris_f]

I read it as 6% of visits are to use the search. Was I wrong?

Chris

[xcandyman]

Heres the full breakdown as on Alexa.

Where do people go on yahoo.com?

* mail.yahoo.com ~ 36%
* kids.yahoo.com ~ 7%
* search.yahoo.com ~ 6%
* groups.yahoo.com ~ 4%
* dailynews.yahoo.com ~ 3%
* news.yahoo.com ~ 3%
* login.yahoo.com ~ 2%
* yahoo.com ~ 2%
* bid.yahoo.com ~ 2%
* dir.yahoo.com ~ 2%
* kr.yahoo.com ~ 2%
* store.yahoo.com ~ 2%
* profiles.yahoo.com ~ 2%
* finance.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* rmi.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* fullcoverage.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* softwise.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* stock.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* messages.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* my.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* games.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* club.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* match.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* fantasysports.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* sports.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* korea.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* imagesearch.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* greetings.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* personals.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* shopping.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* reg.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* rd.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* maps.yahoo.com ~ 1%
* Other websites ~ 7%

Steve

[2_much]

Have you noticed that in the email screen there is a search box in the top right?

I don't think those figures are accurate. We get about as many visitors from Yahoo as from Google on our sites. There's no way this can be accurate.

[Chris_R]

I can't comment on the SPECIFIC numbers, but although what 2_much says may be true - yahoo gets many visitors that don't use the search.

I for one HATE yahoo for search. I have never use yahoo for search except for SEO reasons. Before there was google there was hotbot and altavista - which have always given better results (IMHO) than yahoo.

I do HOWEVER, use their TV listings and stock info as well as using their mail in the past.

I would guess I use yahoo 1,000 times a month. Less than 10 are for search. Anytime you use googles stock function - it defaults to yahoo - giving another non search visit to yahoo.

I am not a typical user - however - I do use yahoo for some of their portal products - as I suspect many others do as well.

[Chris_R]

Also - this is for Alexa users which probably are less likely to use yahoo for search than the general internet population.

[Kurupt]

Yea obviously people go to Yahoo! for more than just searching the web. It is a portal and offers many things for surfers to do once they hit the site. However I think these stats are misleading. Like others who have replied I too recieve pretty much the same amount of traffic from Google as I do Yahoo! for most of the sites I work on.

This stat also doesnt include the users who search from the Yahoo! Messanger program.

[Cossack]

I think this thread answers all questions about Yahoo! ;).

[futureX]

These figures are not really accurate. Remember that its based on people with the alexa toolbar...

Mysite it goes like this...
mysite.net ~ 50%
forums.mysite.net ~ 38%
mediagallery.mysite.net ~ 4%
imageserv.mysite.net ~ 3%

I've cut the rest out, but I can safely say that at least the mediagallery gets almost as many hits/pageviews as the forums part (and definitley more uniqes), and the imageserv isnt far behind.

[elgumbo]

It constantly amazes me that thousands of people a day search for "Yahoo" on Google! (Saw it on a zeitgeist once)

If they are searching for a search engine on a search engine then chances are that they don't want to search when they get there, but rather use the other functions of the site (email, chat etc)