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RESTON, VA, February 21, 2008 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly Comscore qSearch analysis of the search marketplace. January 2008 saw Americans conduct more than 10 billion core searches, representing a significant jump in activity versus December.
January 2008 U.S. Core Search Rankings
In January, Google Sites marginally extended its share of core searches to 58.5 percent. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 22.2 percent, followed by Microsoft Sites (9.8 percent), AOL LLC (4.9 percent), and Ask Network (4.5 percent).
Comscore Core Search Report*January 2008Total U.S. – Home/Work/University LocationsSource: Comscore qSearch 2.0
Core Search Entity
Share of Searches (%)
Dec-07
Jan-08
Point Change Jan-08 vs. Dec-07
Total Core Search
100.0%
0.0
Google Sites
58.4%
58.5%
0.1
Yahoo! Sites
22.9%
22.2%
-0.7
Microsoft Sites
9.8%
AOL LLC**
4.6%
4.9%
0.3
Ask Network
4.3%
4.5%
0.2
* Based on the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.
** In January 2008, Time Warner Network was split into two distinct properties: AOL LLC and Time Warner Network excluding AOL, with AOL LLC representing the core search business.
Americans conducted 10.5 billion searches at the core search engines, representing an 8.9 percent gain versus December. Google Sites saw 6.1 billion core searches during the month, while Yahoo! Sites recorded 2.3 billion. Each of the five core search engines saw the number of searches conducted in January grow at least 5 percent versus the previous month.
Search Queries (MM)
Percent Change
Jan-08 vs. Dec-07
9,636
10,492
8.9%
5,629
6,139
9.1%
2,211
2,332
5.5%
940
1,030
9.7%
442
514
16.5%
415
475
14.6%
January U.S. Expanded Search Rankings
In the January 2008 analysis of the Top 50 properties worldwide where search activity is observed, Google Sites led with 7.7 billion searches. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with nearly 2.5 billion searches, followed by Microsoft Sites (1.1 billion), and AOL LLC (903 million).
Comscore Expanded Search Query ReportJanuary 2008Total U.S. – Home/Work/University LocationsSource: Comscore qSearch 2.0
Expanded Search Entity
Total Expanded Search
13,523
14,595
7.9%
7,165
7,735
8.0%
Google
5,651
6,181
9.4%
YouTube/All Other
1,514
1,554
2.6%
2,363
2,456
3.9%
Yahoo!
2,326
2,427
All Other
37
29
-21.6%
963
1,060
10.1%
MSN-Windows Live
927
1,024
10.5%
Microsoft/All Other
36
0.0%
AOL LLC
N/A
903
AOL
522
MapQuest/All Other
381
416
477
14.7%
Ask.com
238
286
20.2%
MyWebSearch.com/ All Other
178
191
7.3%
eBay
508
467
-8.1%
Fox Interactive Media
350
384
9.6%
MySpace
342
376
9.9%
8
Craigslist.org
220
256
16.4%
Amazon Sites
215
167
-22.2%
Facebook.com
102
109
6.2%
Additional Notes
With January 2008 data, DNS error searches were added to qSearch reporting. A DNS error search is a search conducted through the address bar of a browser where there may have been a misspelling or typo in the URL or search string entered. In cases where the default search engine attempts to make sense of the user’s query and returns valid search results based on the interpretation of the query, those searches are qualified as DNS error searches. The inclusion of these DNS error searches may have had a very minor impact on search query and share trends compared to previous months.
To request more information on Comscore qSearch 2.0, please visit http://www.comscore.com/contact
About ComscoreComscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/boilerplate
PressBill DaddiDaddi Brand Communications646-370-1341press@comscore.com