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Experian Hitwise reveals latest UK Search Engine and Social Analysis
Google increases market share of UK searches
MySpace falls out of top 10 social networks for the first time ever
London 14 December 2011 – Experian Hitwise’s latest Search Engine and Social Analysis reveals increased market share for Google, Yahoo! and Ask Sites in November, whilst in social media MySpace dropped out of the top 10 social networks and was replaced by Stumble Upon.
Google Sites maintained their dominance of the search market in November with a slight increase of 0.05 per cent market share of total UK Internet searches. This took Google to 91.07 per cent of all UK searches, up from 90.39 per cent in November 2010. Ask Sites saw a third consecutive month of growth also up by 0.05 per cent since October 2011 and up 0.11 per cent year-on-year.
Microsoft Sites had a slight dip in market share between October and November but still held 3.84 per cent of all searches conducted by UK Internet users for the month. However, Microsoft was still up year-on-year by 0.49 per cent demonstrating the continued growth of the second largest search provider in the UK. Other search engines meanwhile were down month-on-month and year-on-year, accounting for less than half a per cent of UK search.
“Google is not only the biggest search engine in the UK but it is also the fastest growing search engine of November,” commented James Murray, Market Research Analyst at Experian Hitwise. “Christmas is a key time of year for the online industry but particularly for online retail. We’ve already seen a record-breaking 84.6 million visits online on Cyber Monday (5 December) to retail websites, of which 42 per cent came from search engines. We know that post-Christmas traffic to retailers is going to be even higher, so this is a crucial time for search and for brands to optimise their search campaigns.”
MySpace falls out of top 10 social networks for first time ever
In the Social Networking and Forums category the focus was drawn away from the top of the table as Stumble Upon broke into the top 10 most visited social networking sites, climbing above MySpace for the first time ever. MySpace fell out of the top 10 dropping to 11th place in the rankings. The other websites in the top 10 maintained their positions from last month, but YouTube was once again the fastest moving website of November increasing its market share of visits to the category by 0.67 per cent.
Overall, seven of the top 10 social networks in November increased their market share of visits, with just Twitter, Gumtree and LinkedIn losing market share since October. Facebook continued to grow, accounting for 52.63 per cent of all visits to social networks during the month. Year-on-year, YouTube continues to have the strongest growth with a 6.10 per cent increase in market share of visits since November 2010.
James Murray said: “MySpace traffic has been on the decline for at least three years now but this is the first time the social network has fallen out of the Experian Hitwise top 10. In its place, Stumble Upon has risen in the rankings and is now the UK’s tenth most popular social network. As the social media landscape continues to evolve, brands need to be aware of the fast moving trends and which social sites people are visiting. Around 800 million hours are spent on social networks each month by UK Internet users, but understanding which networks people spend their time browsing is crucial to capturing niche audience traffic.”
ENDS
Contact:
Alexandra Banks
Digital PR Manager, Experian Marketing Services
+44 (0) 7966102823
alexandra.banks@uk.experian.com
press.uk@hitwise.com
About Experian Hitwise
Experian Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Experian Hitwise gives marketers a competitive advantage by providing daily insights on how 25 million Internet users around the world interact with more than 1 million Web sites. This external view helps companies grow and protect their businesses by identifying threats and opportunities as they develop. Experian Hitwise has more than 1,500 clients across numerous sectors, including financial services, media, travel and retail.
Experian Hitwise (FTS:EXPN), www.experianplc.com, operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, France and Brazil. More information about Experian Hitwise is available at www.hitwise.com/uk.
For up-to-date analysis of online trends, please visit the Experian Hitwise research blog at www.ilovedata.com and the Experian Hitwise Data Centre at www.hitwise.com/datacentre
About Experian
Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 80 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.
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