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Search Engine Usage in Ireland – The Facts & Figures, Statistical Analysis March 2007
Undoubtedly the the biggest disadvantage to operating in a small market such as Ireland is the lack of quantitative data on what people are actually doing when they go on-line and, more importantly, how they use Search to assist in discovery.
Thankfully the ‘Facts and Figures’ session at Search Marketing World 2007 included a survey conducted by Amarach Consulting on behalf of the conference organisers.
The survey consisted of:
- a telephone survey of 1,000 adults aged 18 and over in March 2007, nationally representative sample.
- online interviews (in March) with 95 marketers on the Research Now panel, split:
- 54 advertisers (client side) &
- 41 agencies (mainly above the line/thru the line).
Gerard O’Neill very kindly forwarded his slides to me, some of which are discussed below.
Navigation
- Internet Usage in Ireland
- Average Hours On-line Per Week
- Frequency of Use of Search Engine Websites
- Pattern of Usage of Search Results
- Frequency of Clicking on ‘Sponsored Links’ or ‘Sponsored Results’
- Online Advertising & Marketing: Trend in spending in past 12 Months
- Share of Search Engine Marketing in total online spend
- Effectiveness of SEM versus Other Online Advertising
- Expected Trend in Total Spending on Online Advertising & Marketing
- Expected Trend in Share of SEM in Total Online Spending
Internet Usage in Ireland
Internet Usage in Ireland – % of each age group using internet from any location Segment % 18-24 74 25-34 74 35-44 53 45-54 44 55-64 43 65+ 16 TOTAL 53
Average Hours On-line Per Week
Taking Time: Average Hours Online Per Week Segment Hours 18-24 8.4 25-34 5.8 35-44 5.5 45-54 4.2 55-64 3.8 65+ 3.4 TOTAL 5.8
Frequency of Use of Search Engine Websites
Frequency of Use of Search Engine Websites Segment % Use Search Every Day 18-24 67 25-34 51 35-44 37 45-54 39 55-64 30 65+ 35
Pattern of Usage of Search Results
Pattern of Usage of Search Results Use % It depends 43 Mainly click on one
or more of the top
5 links presented
by the search site32 Mainly click on one
or more of the links
down all of the
first page of links
presented by the
search site15 Mainly click on one
or more links
throughout the first
few pages presented
by the search site10
Frequency of Clicking on ‘Sponsored Links’ or ‘Sponsored Results’
Frequency of Clicking on ‘Sponsored Links’ or ‘Sponsored Results’ Click on sponsored link
every time + quite often% Very rarely
when you do a
search48 Never 34 Quite often
when you do a
search15 Almost every
time you do a
search3
Online Advertising & Marketing: Trend in spending in past 12 Months
Online Advertising & Marketing: Trend in spending in past 12 Months Trend % Advertisers % Agencies Increased 59 78 Remained the same 30 12 Decreased 6 7 Remained at zero 6 2
Share of Search Engine Marketing in total online spend
Share of Search Engine Marketing in total online spend Trend % Advertisers % Agencies A growing share 43 34 A static share 16 20 A declining share 4 7 Don’t use SEM 37 39
Effectiveness of SEM versus Other Online Advertising
Effectiveness of SEM versus Other Online Advertising Trend % Advertisers More effective 59 As effective 34 Less effective 6
Expected Trend in Total Spending on Online Advertising & Marketing
Expected Trend in Total Spending
on Online Advertising & MarketingTrend % Advertisers % Agencies Increase 59 73 Remain the
same31 24 Decrease 6 0 Remain at zero 4 2
Expected Trend in Share of SEM in Total Online Spending
Expected Trend in Share of SEM in Total Online Spending Trend % Advertisers % Agencies Increase 48 60 Remain the
same42 28 Decrease 2 5 Remain at zero 8 8
Great info Richard!
Comment by Thomas Holmes — March 23, 2007 @ 1:41 pm
Hi Thomas
The only shame was that they forgot to ask which search engine people used. Someone in the audience asked Gerard O’Neill about this and he was very hoenst and replied that it was one of those ‘why didn’t we ask that’ moments.
But someone from Google made reference to the figures from the UK and Spain being ~80% and ~96% respectively, and that Ireland was more likely to be closer to Spain. Sort reinforces my own belief that Google executes around 90% of Irish search queries.
Rgds
Richard
Comment by Richard Hearne — March 23, 2007 @ 1:57 pm
It is kinda shocking they didn’t ask that. But they did get some good data anyway. Google’s figures are sure to be incredible! Not much real competition from Yahoo or MSN.
Comment by Thomas Holmes — March 23, 2007 @ 2:30 pm
Thanks for this Richard.
On the subject of which search engine, I’d have also been interested to know, of the users who search using Google in Ireland, what percentage use Google.ie vs Google.com.
Comment by frankp — March 29, 2007 @ 10:48 pm
No idea Frank. I have seen some stats for the UK, but cant remember off the top of my head. If I can find them I’ll let you know.
Rgds
Richard
Comment by Richard Hearne — March 29, 2007 @ 11:07 pm
Hi Richard, Great site, 1st time visitor!
http://www.redcardinal.ie was recommended to be on the Google forum after I raised this question;
“I was wondering if anyone knew of a resource where one could find out how many people search from the regional pages .i.e. “pages from Ireland” over “the web” in Google”
Would you have any idea or resources on this topic?
Thanks in advance
Ciara
Comment by Ciara — May 30, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
Hi Ciara
Thanks for dropping by my tiny piece of the web. I cant offer you any more I’m afraid. I know a couple of SEO’s that ran some stats on this for other countries (if memory porves me correct then UK was far higher than I thought it would be – ~40-50% ‘pages from UK’).
Nothing in concrete unfortunately. There is a way to mine this from Google Analytics, but it’s quite advanced to set this up.
Sorry I cant help more,
Rgds
Richard
Comment by Richard Hearne — May 31, 2007 @ 11:29 am