Influence of Internet Advertising on Purchase Decisions by Search Engine Preference
(Source: BIGresearch, SIMM V, Dec '04, N=14,039)

1) Google
2) Yahoo!
3) MSN
4) AOL
6) Ask Jeeves

Electronics
23.8%
21.7%
19.0%
21.0%
15.8%
19.0%
Apparel/Clothing
13.0%
14.6%
12.9%
12.5%
9.7%
11.4%
Grocery (Food/Cleaning/Beauty)
6.9%
11.2%
10.1%
12.2%
7.4%
8.9%
Home Improvement
8.5%
10.%
9.8%
9.4%
5.5%
7.9%
Automobiles
10.4%
10.5%
7.3%
7.7%
3.8%
8.1%
Pharmaceutical
5.8%
6.3%
4.6%
4.7%
4.6%
4.9%
Travel
17.9%
16.9%
16.9%
16.5%
15.4%
14.5%

*The sum of the % totals may be greater than 100% because the respondents can select more than one answer.

These figures are for the american market, but what it shows is that google is great at driving traffic to your site, but in terms of influence, all the search engines are worth pretty much the same (at least the big other 2 - yahoo & msn).

conclusion: if you want to market a specific product, you have to consider all search engines, not only google.

If you take the example of grocery, clothing, or home improvement, Yahoo is actually better performing - this may be different in the UK or France, where the search market is different, but the conclusions are the same - Your product belongs has got its specific vertical markets, and betting on google only to bring you sales is not the best approach.








Source: BIGresearch, SIMM V, Dec '04, N=14,039