April figures and Google goes to 50%

The April figures show the search engine numbers shifting a bit and some interesting thoughts on what that might mean to each individual company.

Google comes in at 50% marketshare

Yahoo 27%

MSN 10%

Ask 5%

AOL 5%

If you look at the marketcap of each company you can see that each percentage is worth about $1,000,000,000 see article here 

Don Dodge has done a credbile job of showing how each point is worth 1 billion dollars. That is not to say each is actually worth that but from the numbers it certainly appears that way.

So the end result is that I want my own search engine and I only need 1% I am sure I can live on a $1B marketcap – though I have never tried. The question is what does this really mean and how much longer can the smaller search engines stay around – especially in light of “GOOGLE”

Interesting how in just a few years the tech monster turns away from being MSN to being Google. Should Google be allowed to own Doubleclick and know that much about us. My feeling – though it may be unpopular – who cares. If you use the Internet extensively you know what is going on and you run the risk that people will get to know something about you.

In talking to some younger folks – they don’t seem to care it is the price to pay for all this access – not sure I disagree. So the debate is how much of our privacy do we extend to the search engines by just using them.

From my standpoint I search on such a variety of things related to my company that they would not have any idea of where I was coming from – I like that also.

So the answer might be to once a day just do a few searches on random things and really screw things up. Just a thought.

Rick Simmons is a principal at Dinkum Interactive, a firm specializing in online marketing solutions for small and medium sized businesses around the globe. With more than 25 years of experience in advertising and marketing, Simmons has spent the last four years focused on search engine optimization, and other Internet marketing strategies. Reach him at 267-626-9094 or [email protected]