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Google is the dominant player in the Internet search engine market in Australia, the latest data from the Roy Morgan Internet Monitor shows. In the July-September 2005 Quarter, over 8.5 million Australians said Google was the search engine they mainly used, which is 65% of all Australians who have ever been online, compared with just over 2.2 million Australians (17%) who use Yahoo!’s search engine. This was not always the case; four and a half years ago Yahoo! dominated with almost three times Google’s market share (33% in the April-June 2001 Quarter compared with Google’s 12%). 

Over the last four years the number of Internet users who named Google as their main search engine increased almost seven-fold from more than 1.2 million (12%) in the April-June 2001 Quarter to over 8.5 million (65%) in the July-September 2005: an increase of close to 7.3 million Internet users. 

Google’s pre-eminent position in the Australian market is reinforced by the fact that the number of Internet users who mainly used its four nearest rivals in the September 2005 Quarter: Yahoo! (just over 2.2 million Internet users), ninemsn (over 1.9 million), BigPond — powered by Sensis (almost 1.1 million users) and AltaVista (179,000) amount to less than two-thirds of those who named Google.

Google took Yahoo!’s place as market leader in July-September 2002 (with 3.6 million naming Google compared with just over 3.4 million naming Yahoo! as their main search engine).  Google widened the gap with its competitors in January-March 2004 when the number of Internet users citing Google as their main search engine exceeded that of its four major rivals combined (just more than 6.6 million compared with a combined total of 6.3 million).

The trend for Yahoo! over the last five years has not been positive.  Despite the occasional gain in numbers, the proportion of Australian Internet users and who name Yahoo! as their main search engine has declined steadily from its highpoint of 35% (almost 3.3 million) in October-December 2000 to only 17% (just over 2.2 million) in the September 2005 Quarter.

Ninemsn’s market share has improved over the last four years; growing from just under 1.3 million (13%) in the June 2001 Quarter, peaking in October-December 2003 at over 2.1 million (18%) before losing ground to settle at over 1.9 million (15%) in the September 2005 Quarter.

BigPond, owned by Telstra, and whose search site is powered by Sensis, was relatively stable; enjoying a slight increase from 7% of Australian Internet users considering BigPond their main search engine in April-June 2001 to 9% in July September 2005, an increase of almost 400,000 from 748,000 to 1,128,000.

AltaVista suffered the worst drop - over 1.5 million from almost 1.7 million (18%) in the December 2000 Quarter, to only 179,000 (1%) of Australian Internet users considering it their main search engine, in the September 2005 Quarter.

Gary Morgan says:

 

“Today Google has won the battle for the Australian Internet search engine market. With 65% of those who have been online saying Google is their main search engine, Google’s position looks unassailable; no other search site currently comes close.

“Google’s growth over the last four years has been nothing short of phenomenal, increasing the number of Internet users who say Google is their main search engine by almost 7.2 million from more than 1.2 million (12%) to over 8.5 million (65%) is an outstanding result.

The Roy Morgan Internet Monitor shows similarly strong results for Google in NZ.”

For further information:

Gary Morgan:            Office (03) 9224 5213       Mobile 0411 129 094                    Home (03) 9419 3242

Michele Levine:        Office (03) 9224 5215       Mobile 0411 129 093                    Home (03) 9817 3066

Respondents were asked to name their main search engine; respondents could give more than one response.

	Oct-Dec00		Jan-Mar01		Apr-Jun01		Jul-Sep01		Oct-Dec01		Jan-Mar02		Apr-Jun02		Jul-Sep02		Oct-Dec02		Jan-Mar03
	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s
Google	*	*	*	*	12	1,229	16	1,581	18	1,931	24	2,576	30	3,289	32	3,556	36	4,133	41	4,773
Yahoo!	35	3,297	33	3,183	33	3,322	31	3,118	32	3,400	32	3,399	30	3,319	30	3,413	29	3,300	29	3,367
ninemsn (MSN)	*	*	*	*	13	1,295	16	1,570	17	1,736	15	1,623	18	1,963	18	1,993	18	2,014	17	1,987
AltaVista	18	1,692	17	1,599	15	1,507	16	1,567	13	1,359	11	1,124	11	1,197	9	1,007	8	937	7	840
BigPond (powered by Sensis)	*	*	*	*	7	748	9	872	9	915	10	1,020	9	988	9	968	8	952	8	910
Australians ever accessed the Internet		9,556		9,558		9,975		10,096		10,498		10,625		11,140		11,278		11,480		11,563
	Apr-Jun03		Jul-Sep03		Oct-Dec03		Jan-Mar04		Apr-Jun04		Jul-Sep04		Oct-Dec04		Jan-Mar05		Apr-Jun05		Jul-Sep05
	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s	%	000s
Google	45	5,346	48	5,716	50	6,092	54	6,619	59	7,172	60	7,578	61	7,693	62	7,852	66	8,431	65	8,516
Yahoo!	29	3,473	27	3,257	23	2,822	23	2,804	23	2,851	21	2,629	22	2,747	22	2,741	19	2,488	17	2,246
ninemsn (MSN)	18	2,121	18	2,120	18	2,128	16	1,962	15	1,882	15	1,941	16	1,979	15	1,861	15	1,956	15	1,938
AltaVista	6	688	5	649	5	651	4	529	4	440	3	362	2	261	2	243	2	225	1	179
BigPond (powered by Sensis)	8	954	7	891	8	933	8	1,017	8	948	8	954	8	1,058	8	968	8	981	9	1,128
Australians ever accessed the Internet		11,879		11,990		12,135		12,242		12,245		12,576		12,527		12,682		12,868		13,063

Base: Australian population aged 14+ who have ever accessed the Internet.

This data was derived from a Roy Morgan International Survey of 80,155 Australians aged 14 and over, conducted between October 2000 and September 2005.

The Morgan Poll is conducted by the ONLY Australian and New Zealand member of the Gallup International Association.

No other public opinion poll taken in Australia or New Zealand has this qualification.

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