Alternative Search Engines Have a Long Way to Go
Every day I see a new search engine pop up online. All these smaller search engines (including the ones you might have actually heard of) are trying to ride the hot trend of search. Every one of them seems to be hoping to become the next Google.
Recently released data from Hitwise shows that these smaller search engines aren't gaining any ground on the big boys. In fact, according to Hitwise, one in every fourtee visits to the Internet by US web users went to one of the top 10 search engines (up 7% from just a year ago).
The "alternative" search engines--vivisimo, Clusty.com, a9.com, Alltheweb.com, Snap.com--don't seem to be much of an alternative for most Web users, accounting for only one-tenth of one percent of all search engine visits. Amazon's a9.com is the only one to show significant growth over the past year. A9 is also the only one launched by a company with the market penetration and customer base that's larger than most countries in the world.
I think the point of this article is that the search engine market is not an easy one to enter. The big guys continue to get bigger and ill continue to do so as long as they provide relevant, useful results and their users remain loyal. I think there is still room for smaller search engines to enter the market if they focus on a particular market or niche, but it will be tough for any Joe Blow to come in and dethrown Google--especially if they don't offer some kind of significant and compelling improvement to differentiate themselves from what's currently available.
Read the article on InternetRetailer.com
Recently released data from Hitwise shows that these smaller search engines aren't gaining any ground on the big boys. In fact, according to Hitwise, one in every fourtee visits to the Internet by US web users went to one of the top 10 search engines (up 7% from just a year ago).
The "alternative" search engines--vivisimo, Clusty.com, a9.com, Alltheweb.com, Snap.com--don't seem to be much of an alternative for most Web users, accounting for only one-tenth of one percent of all search engine visits. Amazon's a9.com is the only one to show significant growth over the past year. A9 is also the only one launched by a company with the market penetration and customer base that's larger than most countries in the world.
I think the point of this article is that the search engine market is not an easy one to enter. The big guys continue to get bigger and ill continue to do so as long as they provide relevant, useful results and their users remain loyal. I think there is still room for smaller search engines to enter the market if they focus on a particular market or niche, but it will be tough for any Joe Blow to come in and dethrown Google--especially if they don't offer some kind of significant and compelling improvement to differentiate themselves from what's currently available.
Read the article on InternetRetailer.com
posted by Dave @ 10:21 PM
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