Google search capabilities have changed and increased significantly over the past year, and more computer users and mobile device users are using Google and other search engines more than ever. It's just so ... easy! Much easier than playing telephone tag to ask a knowledgeable friend or expert a question... and that's the search engine's secret sauce. Ease of use...availability...and always having an answer, even if it takes a bit of shoveling of fertilizer to find the right connection or information.
The searching action has become part of the "media" of today. And online search is growing much faster than other methods of information distribution.
Google Leads the Search Pack
It's always fascinating to glimpse the collective consciousness of Google users.
Beyond search queries rising for Michael Jackson, swine flu, Twitter and Lady Gaga, what else did Google searches reveal last year?
The searching action has become part of the "media" of today. And online search is growing much faster than other methods of information distribution.
Google Leads the Search Pack
It's always fascinating to glimpse the collective consciousness of Google users.
Beyond search queries rising for Michael Jackson, swine flu, Twitter and Lady Gaga, what else did Google searches reveal last year?
- Proportion of Google users in the United States making more than one query per day:
7 out of 10 - Proportion of Google users in the United States making more than 10 queries per day:
1 out of 7 - Fraction of Google queries, duplicates excluded, never seen before: More than 1/3
- Fraction of Google queries, duplicates included, never seen before: More than 1/5
- Country with the greatest increase in Google web search traffic in 2009 vs. 2008: Indonesia*
- Approximate percentage of Internet users in Indonesia: 11.1%*
- Average amount of time it takes a user to finish entering a query: 9 seconds
- Average amount of time it takes Google to answer a query: Less than 1/4 second
- Number of search quality improvements made by Google in 2009: 540, ~1.5 each day
- Proportion of Google result pages that show a map in search results: 1 in 13
- Average increase in driving distance on weekends vs. weekdays on Google Maps: 11km
- Median distance from a user's location to ice skating rinks found on Google Maps: 30km
- Median distance from a user's location to ski resorts found on Google Maps: 300km
Unless
otherwise noted, most of these statistics are based on Google's U.S. weekday
traffic.