Here is a question for all of you Firefox power users …
When was the last time you saw the Google home page? As opposed to jumping straight to the search results page from the search box in the top right of your browser.
When you read how much Google is prepared to pay for search traffic from Firefox, you can understand why Microsoft decided to start investing again in Internet Explorer.
Here is the latest search engine market share report I could find, from September ‘07:
| Search Engine | Market Share |
|---|---|
| 54.0% | |
| Yahoo! | 19.5% |
| MSN/Live | 12.0% |
| AOL | 6.0% |
| Ask.com | 2.2% |
| All others | 6.3% |
Source: Neilsen via SearchEngineWatch.com
(http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3627422)
I wonder how much of this traffic is provided direct from browser search boxes?
Rowan - I can’t answer your question about the traffic that’s generated from browser search boxes, but it’s interesting to note that Hitwise estimated Google was responsible for just under 66% of all US searches in December 2007 - see http://www.hitwise.com/press-center/hitwiseHS2004/us-google-sets-new-high-08012008.php.
I don’t actually use the search box in Firefox. I have found it far easier to set up search shortcuts in the address bar. To do a Google search I use Ctrl-L and then type “gg search-term” and for a Google New Zealand local search “gnz search-term”. You can set up basically any search engine with shortcut access codes.
Glen -
In Firefox Ctrl-K drops you directly into the search box, which saves you from typing “gg” each time.
:-)
That’s a cool tip!
‘One hit wonder’ ? LOL should we have an RSS feed on the top header also? :) Nice touch btw
If you use Opera, in the address bar you just type a g then a space and whatever you’re searching for. It comes like that straight out of the box, lovely. So to search for me goes “ctrl-T”, “g”, space, search_term_here.
I didn’t realise Google paid FireFox for that box, do they pay Opera too? Or is it an open source support sort of agreement.
FWIW I use the FF searchbox 95% of the time. However all of my feeds and email are right there on my Google homepage, including coming across this very post. So to answer the question, the G homepage always gets at least a few (if not quite a few!) views from me every day even if I’m not searching.