January 3, 2007: Search engine trivia

I ran across some interesting facts regarding search engine use..and how Google is taking the world by storm at this time.

Google's query share rose to 46.9% in the US at the expense of MSN,AOL and Ask.Internationally, Google has a 63.6% query share. I find this remarkable.

You Tube growth year to year was 8,929% (not a missprint). Google is really on top of its game.

With Google's advantages in search quality,advertising monetization and new product development, it is viewed by many analysts as cheap given the growth rate. Some brokerage houses are predicting Google to rise to $600.00/share in 2007.

Honestly, I cannot understand the business model of search engines long term, so I have no stock position in Google. I may be the lone wolf, but I am wary of tech in general, perhaps as a reaction to the 2000 debacle.

Here is the latest data on searches by the major players:

WORLDWIDE SEARCHES:
Google.......12,809,234,000 64%
Yahoo!....... 3,976,624,000 20%
MSN.......... 1,709,654,000 8%
AOL.......... 547,168,000 3%
Ask.......... 673,986,000 3%
others....... 421,135,000 2%

UNITED STATES SEARCHES:
Google....... 3,150,030,000 47%
Yahoo!....... 1,892,019,000 28%
MSN.......... 736,207,000 11%
AOL.......... 342,275,000 5%
Ask.......... 367,313,000 5%
other........ 229,320,000 3%

The fact that "Google it" is fast becoming an identifier like "Kleenex" bodes well for the company.

If you own Google, my hat is off to you. I just can't pull the trigger myself.