Poor More Likely to use Yahoo!, Rich use Google
Hitwise have released
some data comparing various socio-economic factors from users of Google
and Yahoo!. The research shows a younger, less affluent group of
searchers use Yahoo!, while the richer, older audience prefers Google.The
graph demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of the two search
engines with the Y axis representing Yahoo! and the X axis representing
Google. The top left hand box represents unique strengths for Yahoo!
search, and vice-versa. The bigger the bubble, the more likely this
group has spent $500 online.
As
you can see, Google’s relative strengths (bottom right) indicate that
those from “affluent suburbia” are most likely to be using Google, and
there is a good chance they have spent over $500 online. This is in
stark contrast to Yahoo!’s strengths of struggling societies and blue collar backbone.While this data isn’t exclusive, it
does give an interesting insight into the user base of both search
engines. Small business owners should consider this type of demographic
research when choosing which platforms to run their paid search
campaigns. For example, advertisers targeting a younger audience may
want to reconsider their choice of search engine and give Yahoo! a try.
