9 in 10 Sept. Search Queries 5 Words or Less

October 13, 2011

This article is included in these additional categories:

Analytics, Automated & MarTech | Data-driven | Paid Search

hitwise-query-length-oct-2011.JPGRoughly nine in 10 US search queries conducted in September 2011 consisted of five words or less, according to data from Experian Hitwise. In addition, about seven in 10 consisted of three words or less.

However, shorter search queries of one and two words had the two highest individual percentages of the monthly query total. One-word queries led with about 26% of the total, while two-word queries followed with 24%.

The least frequent search queries consisted of seven words (about 2%), followed by queries of eight words or more (about 3%).

Queries of 8 Words or More Grow 3%

Search queries of eight or more words increased 3% from August 2011 to September 2011. Longer search queries, those averaging five to eight words or more, were flat in that period. Shorter search queries, those averaging one to four words, were also flat from August to September.

Google Share Grows, Bing Share Shrinks

hitwise-search-providers-oct-2011.JPGGoogle accounted for about 66% of all US searches conducted in the four weeks ending Oct. 1, 2011, up 2% from 65% the prior month. The combined Bing-powered search comprised about 28% of all searches for the month, with Yahoo Search and Bing receiving 15% percent and 13% percent, respectively. Total Bing-powered search share declined 3% month-over-month, with Yahoo losing 4% and Bing losing 2%, respectively.

The remaining 66 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis report accounted for the remaining roughly 6% of US searches for the month.

Yahoo Search Share Jumps 5% in August

Yahoo Search’s disappointing September performance is a turnaround from what was a strong August. While previously released Experian Hitwise data shows search.yahoo.com came in third place among the top US search providers by share in August with 15.89%, this represented a leading 5% growth rate. All Bing-powered searches (which includes Yahoo), came in second place with 28.99% share, and also had the second-highest growth rate of 3%.

Bing.com itself placed fourth with a 13.1% share, up 1% from July. Google retained its dominant first place ranking with 65.09% of total searches, although this was down 1% from the previous month. The remaining 64 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis report accounted for 5.92% of US searches.

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