Mozilla’s Firefox browser could be an important factor in Google’s overwhelming share of the worldwide search market, as a new study by internet research firm Chitika indicates that the browser accounts for more Google searches than the total searches for Bing or Yahoo.
Based on a sample of 14,511,333 impressions across Chitika’s network of advertising partners, the study is not truly indicative of the internet. However there is no reason to suggest that the trends seen in the sample are not comparable to those seen outside of Chitika’s network.
“Firefox currently holds the keys to 9.17% of the search market,” says Chitika’s research director Daniel Ruby, “more than any one company except Google itself.”
In the sample, Bing’s share of traffic was 8.56%, Yahoo’s 6.69% and AOL and Ask accounted for 1.22% and 1.07% respectively. As might be expected, Google is as dominant in Chitika’s network as anywhere else, accounting for 82% of all search impressions.
As noted, a significant amount – nearly 1/10th – of Google’s traffic is driven by Firefox. The key to the browser’s role in Google’s share is the existing contract between Mozilla and Google; the default start page is a customised version of the Google homepage and Google’s search bar is embedded in the top of the browser (though it can be altered to other search providers).
These settings are changed by few users it appears. Chitika’s research indicated that out of all the search traffic from Firefox browsers, 91.45% was to Google, with 39.87% being driven specifically from the Firefox start page and its embedded search bar.
Ruby says that these figures suggest that when the Mozilla/Google deal comes to an end, there could be a “massive bidding war” to secure the browser – the most popular alternative to Internet Explorer – as Microsoft/Yahoo seek to secure more search engine marketing revenue by increasing their market share. According to Ruby, if this happened it could see their combined market share rise “by a whopping sixty percent.”
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