14 DAY TRIAL // Google enjoys a solid lead in the search market with a roughly 60-percent share. While no one doubts that Google offers one of the best experiences and the best products, many wonder if that alone justifies the big gap between its followers Yahoo Search and Microsoft's Bing or if it's just the force of habit that keeps users from switching. However, the latest annual survey by the University of Michigan, the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, shows that it's more than just habit, users are genuinely better satisfied with Google's offering.
The American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a well-known and wide-ranging, consumer-satisfaction survey. The Internet portals and search engines category was introduced eight years ago and is only made up of Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. This year Google scored 86 points out of the 100 possible, the same as last year, the largest score in the category and one of the largest for any one company marking the seventh year when Google has led in the category.
Google was followed by Yahoo, which managed to score 77 points, also unchanged from last year, and then by Microsoft with 75 points, Ask.com with 74 and AOL with just 70. The survey was conducted before Bing was launched, so the Microsoft score reflects the MSN experience. Overall, the category scored 83 points, one of the highest across all industries and sectors followed.
The survey is pegged as having a predictive nature, companies scoring high in the survey would also do well in the following year. This has been somewhat accurate, the ACSI is one of be most highly regarded reports in the field, but there have been occurrences where changes in the scores didn't translate into changes in market share. Also, recent changes in the search engine market, though, the release of Bing and especially the Microsoft – Yahoo deal, make the results of the survey even less accurate, but they could still prove valuable and, at least, show that Bing has a very daunting task ahead of it.