Let’s talk summer 2008 search engine traffic figures ladies and gents. Nielsen Online gives Google the obvious nod with a slight increase in audience numbers, up a respectable one million additional users at 129 million users overall! For two months! Perennial bridesmaids Yahoo and Microsoft came in second and third, 118 and 122 million users respectively.
These numbers are encompassing of all site traffic, therefore Yahoo and Microsoft’s longstanding email and news-portal services account for their continued high overall traffic numbers. To be sure, Google is still by far the dominant resource for online search, capturing roughly 70% of the US market, but Google’s continued growth in applications, social media and content, and importatntly gmail growth, shows that the juggernaut from Mountain View continues to impress and beat the competition.
As advertisers, this shows the continued need to utilize Google visability and Google advertising as a means of reaching a huge and growing audience. That means more focus on optimizing to Google’s search engine algorithm (more focus on links and building authority) and also using Google Adwords (though more competitive means increasing click costs!)
Google’s stock was trading today at just over $500.