These days, it seems that search engines are the way to go. According to research undertaken by Pew Internet & American Life, on an average day, 60 million American adults are using search engines. These figures – from 2005 – are substantially more than the last figures the survey took, which was 2004 which was 30 percent. In real figures, according to a report detailed in Marketing Today this means that in 2004 there were around 38 million users and a year later, 59 million users (more than a 50 percent jump).

Understanding Internet Activity

What does this mean in terms of Internet activity? Search engine use is creeping up to email use (although the latter is still in the lead, since on a typical day, more than half of US Internet users are either sending or receiving emails). According to Pew Internet Project director Lee Rainie, “most people think of the internet as a vast library and they increasingly depend on search engines to help them find everything from information about the people who interest them, to transactions they want to conduct, organizations they need to deal with, and interesting factoids that help them settle bar bets and backyard arguments.”

Marketers and Web Tools

According to VP of comScore Networks, James Lamberti, “the evolution of search engines as everyday consumer Web tools has made them a vital resource for marketers.” He added that search engines are a primary way of accessing consumers “during the buy cycle.” But in addition to this, they present the opportunity for “consumer profiling, segmentation, and measurement of product demand.”