Where searches happens on the internet 2018
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2024 4:49 am
Over the past few years, I’ve been incredibly frustrated by inaccurate and underrepresentative data sources about how web traffic flows and where web searches occur. Some of these are well-intentioned errors ( for example ), while others I believe have a specific motivation. But one source that has been consistently excellent is Jumpshot, a collector and provider of anonymized, clickstream-level data from millions of real people’s browsers (mobile and desktop).
With such a large segment of US web browsers submitting data to Jumpshot, the macro insights are not only valuable, they’re reliable. I’ve written about their data previously on Moz and here on my blog, and I’ve created several slideshows that dive deeper into these insights. Today I’m excited because I have a few new data points to share:
Is Google gaining or losing ground in search?
To answer that, we need to look at search whatsapp mexico number share over time, and fortunately, Jumpshot provided me with data going back to November 2015. We also need to expand our understanding of what “search” can mean. I asked Jumpshot for data not just on search engines like Bing, Yahoo!, and Google, but also on YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Pinterest, and Twitter.
The chart below tells the story (and yes, this includes mobile and web search across browsers and apps):
jumpshot search over time small on Hello Mídia
Click here to enlarge
Some of my topics:
In November 2015, Bing and Yahoo combined accounted for about 7% of all searches. By February 2018, that number had dropped to 4.6%.
YouTube, Pinterest, Amazon, and Twitter have all remained surprisingly stable, moving less than half a percent each. This is particularly surprising with Amazon, because I keep reading all these stories about how much product search is shifting to their platform. If this is true, it should only be proportional when tracking the overall growth of web search as a whole. Maybe that’s impressive in and of itself.
Google Images has shrunk, but almost entirely because Google web search has taken traffic for itself (dropping tabs on image search, incorporating more image results into web SERPs, etc.)
Google Maps, similar to Images, only technically lost share, as Google web search gets the lion's share of it (and the shift to mobile usage has obviously influenced this as well)
Google properties account for just over 90% of all searches in 2018, an increase of approximately 1.5% from 2015.
If asked to predict the future, I believe Google’s dominance will continue, and there is no clear evidence of a major shift any time in the next two or three years. While the search landscape is “always changing,” from a raw usage perspective, we have entered a fairly mature phase of the industry.
Where Does Search Happen on the Web in 2018?
Visualizing “over time” makes it easier to spot trends, but it’s harder to tease apart differences in size and composition of the various properties. So I’ve also created a classic pie chart to help illustrate:
jumpshot share of searches small on Hello Mídia
Click here to enlarge
Some of my topics:
With Google Images sending an even more significant portion of traffic (due to its recent “preview image” changes), investing in visual content that can be displayed there (and appear in web search) seems like a challenge for content producers.
Amazon overtaking Bing in search is definitely interesting, though it seems more that way because of Bing's decline relative to Amazon's rise.
Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest may seem small compared to others, but they’re still giants compared to the rest of the web, and they’ve maintained search growth that’s in line with Google’s own growth (which is pretty impressive). For brands and certain industries, appearing in these search results can be hugely rewarding.
One very important point about all of this – nothing here suggests that Bing, Yahoo or Google Images have lost search . All of this data is by percentage of share, which means that Bing and Yahoo could have grown substantially over the past two years and still be falling in terms of market share, simply because Google and others have grown faster.
PLEASE do not use this data to say something inaccurate, for example “Amazon search growth has been flat for the past two years”, this is completely wrong. The number of Google searches per month has grown enormously, and Amazon is holding its own in terms of market share. This is impressive and is what this data really demonstrates.
Next week, I should have even more new data to share from Jumpshot; stay tuned!
p.s. For more details on Jumpshot’s methodology, check out this CMS Wire piece . A huge thanks to Deren Baker, Shaun Rivera, and Saniya Jesupaul at Jumpshot for working with me to get this data.
pps This data does not include voice responses, although it does include voice searches that result in a survey response on mobile (Android) or desktop devices. The mobile data is Android only (as Jumpshot does not yet collect large-scale data on iPhones).
With such a large segment of US web browsers submitting data to Jumpshot, the macro insights are not only valuable, they’re reliable. I’ve written about their data previously on Moz and here on my blog, and I’ve created several slideshows that dive deeper into these insights. Today I’m excited because I have a few new data points to share:
Is Google gaining or losing ground in search?
To answer that, we need to look at search whatsapp mexico number share over time, and fortunately, Jumpshot provided me with data going back to November 2015. We also need to expand our understanding of what “search” can mean. I asked Jumpshot for data not just on search engines like Bing, Yahoo!, and Google, but also on YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Pinterest, and Twitter.
The chart below tells the story (and yes, this includes mobile and web search across browsers and apps):
jumpshot search over time small on Hello Mídia
Click here to enlarge
Some of my topics:
In November 2015, Bing and Yahoo combined accounted for about 7% of all searches. By February 2018, that number had dropped to 4.6%.
YouTube, Pinterest, Amazon, and Twitter have all remained surprisingly stable, moving less than half a percent each. This is particularly surprising with Amazon, because I keep reading all these stories about how much product search is shifting to their platform. If this is true, it should only be proportional when tracking the overall growth of web search as a whole. Maybe that’s impressive in and of itself.
Google Images has shrunk, but almost entirely because Google web search has taken traffic for itself (dropping tabs on image search, incorporating more image results into web SERPs, etc.)
Google Maps, similar to Images, only technically lost share, as Google web search gets the lion's share of it (and the shift to mobile usage has obviously influenced this as well)
Google properties account for just over 90% of all searches in 2018, an increase of approximately 1.5% from 2015.
If asked to predict the future, I believe Google’s dominance will continue, and there is no clear evidence of a major shift any time in the next two or three years. While the search landscape is “always changing,” from a raw usage perspective, we have entered a fairly mature phase of the industry.
Where Does Search Happen on the Web in 2018?
Visualizing “over time” makes it easier to spot trends, but it’s harder to tease apart differences in size and composition of the various properties. So I’ve also created a classic pie chart to help illustrate:
jumpshot share of searches small on Hello Mídia
Click here to enlarge
Some of my topics:
With Google Images sending an even more significant portion of traffic (due to its recent “preview image” changes), investing in visual content that can be displayed there (and appear in web search) seems like a challenge for content producers.
Amazon overtaking Bing in search is definitely interesting, though it seems more that way because of Bing's decline relative to Amazon's rise.
Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest may seem small compared to others, but they’re still giants compared to the rest of the web, and they’ve maintained search growth that’s in line with Google’s own growth (which is pretty impressive). For brands and certain industries, appearing in these search results can be hugely rewarding.
One very important point about all of this – nothing here suggests that Bing, Yahoo or Google Images have lost search . All of this data is by percentage of share, which means that Bing and Yahoo could have grown substantially over the past two years and still be falling in terms of market share, simply because Google and others have grown faster.
PLEASE do not use this data to say something inaccurate, for example “Amazon search growth has been flat for the past two years”, this is completely wrong. The number of Google searches per month has grown enormously, and Amazon is holding its own in terms of market share. This is impressive and is what this data really demonstrates.
Next week, I should have even more new data to share from Jumpshot; stay tuned!
p.s. For more details on Jumpshot’s methodology, check out this CMS Wire piece . A huge thanks to Deren Baker, Shaun Rivera, and Saniya Jesupaul at Jumpshot for working with me to get this data.
pps This data does not include voice responses, although it does include voice searches that result in a survey response on mobile (Android) or desktop devices. The mobile data is Android only (as Jumpshot does not yet collect large-scale data on iPhones).