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The Poor uses Yahoo; Rich ones use Google

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A set of data recently released by HitWise suggests a trend on the economic status of people using either Google or Yahoo search engines. The results revealed that those financially well-off are likely to use Google while the lower class ones gravitate to Yahoo.

Furthermore, Google users tend to be the older generation and spend more money online while Yahoo users are the younger people and ones that spend less online.

The graph below shows the age groups as surveyed by Hitwise:

Search Graphs

Despite the fact that Google leads in online search (60+% of total searches), Yahoo is still the #1 most visited website online. Obviously, the population that goes online just don’t do search — they also do emails, groups, answers, news and the lot — which attributes to the massive traffic Yahoo is getting on that front. Google on the other hand doesn’t create its own content.

As I mentioned above, comparing Google and Yahoo from this perspective might has some inherent bias mainly because Yahoo users are more spread out because of the various services it offers while Google is only doing search (okay, maybe mail.google.com as well but those are few and far between).

Rich Poor

In that sense, Google users should have spent much less time on the site because they’d jump off to the target websites right after viewing the search results. Maybe this is the reason why Google went out and added more links on it’s default search page to point out its other services.

In a way, the Hitwise report may be comparing a very sharp paring knife (Google) to a regular all-in-one Swiss Army knife (Yahoo).

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Hitwise data suggest about the economic status of Google and Yahoo users?
The data suggests financially well-off people use Google while lower class ones gravitate to Yahoo.
How do the age groups of Google and Yahoo users differ according to the article?
Google users tend to be older, while Yahoo users are younger.
Why does Yahoo have more traffic than Google despite Google leading in search?
Yahoo offers many services like email and news, attracting users beyond search.
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Written by
Abe Olandres

Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

View all posts by Abe Olandres →

48 Comments

IA
ian · 14 years ago

i think it because there’s a lot of company using google apps domain, calendar and other application in google rather than using services of yahoo, lol
yes yahoo was sucks in their services…but there’s a secret in yahoo about trading or selling rare old id’s for yahoo chat.


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MA
Mang Pandoy · 18 years ago

i disagree to that. i think its just Google i more popular because it was known as a search engine while yahoo was well known because of their wide variety of internet services.


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MA
Mandaragat · 18 years ago

Strange no’. Another digital myth I guess…


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RE
Redel · 18 years ago

I use Google more especially when searching. :)


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CO
Coy · 18 years ago

Hmmm… I know most friendster addicts STILL use Yahoo.

I don’t think Yahoo (Search) is for the poor. It’s for the jologs. LOL.


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SE
seo services for · 12 years ago

I really like reading through a post that will make
people think. Also, thank you for allowing for me to comment!


CH
ChrisMo · 18 years ago

I equally use both, google for searching, google for metrics, google for adwords, google for maps, google for adsense. Then theres Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo Answers, Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports and Yahoo Small Business. Well whatever floats your boat.

Now let’s survey the Techie, non-techie crowd…


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GI
Gian Paolo · 18 years ago

I am not rich and I am 17 but I use Google. That means I am part of that 17% something no (Well, actually, no I am not since it says 18-24)?


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LO
Loy · 18 years ago

the philippines is a third world country…does this mean that most filipinos use yahoo search?

and some of the rich in our country doesn’t necessarily use either yahoo or google? i think the study doesn’t apply to the philippine setting…

also, does the study mean that google caters more in terms of content and services to the rich?

maybe there’s a bias here…


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JA
Jan Alvin · 18 years ago

I will make a comment post about this issue in my blog http://www.blogtambayan.blogspot.com

I guess theres nothing much to do about it. That the trends shows.


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JO
Jomark Osabel · 18 years ago

By the time Microsoft will be able to acquire Yahoo through a proxy fight then I guess the statistics will change too.

Im not rich either but I use google more.


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JE
Jeffrey · 18 years ago

Okay the survey confirms that i’m indeed rich.

I don’t remember a time when i spent a centavo at Yahoo. But i did spend quiet a few hundreds to thousands of pesos on Google’s Adwords.

Why Yahoo is losing money: It’s because they’re hiring writers or buying content from other sources to put on their site while it’s users are spending less.

While Google legally steals content from several news sources, libraries and authors, consequently they save a lot of money.


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BR
BrianB · 18 years ago

I’ve always used Google since I was a tiny toddler. Ha. But there’s nothing like a man who grew up on Yahoo but through hard work and individual ability ascended to become one of the Google users.


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LL
Lloyd Lopez · 18 years ago

If only it is true on my case but even though I’m using Google, I’m not rich. LOL :D


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FR
franz · 18 years ago

Well it depends on what is the definition of poor is.

Poor in America can be considered as filthy rich here in the Philippines.

And poor is very relative. Poor in other countries can be considered as not owning an ipod or a laptop so the study is only applicable to where it was done.


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RO
Ronin · 18 years ago

@dusty: i think it’s Monster RX 93.1 :D


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BL
blozoom! · 18 years ago

yay i belong to the rich. but yikes i belong to the old. that leaves MSN/live for what? for microsoft employees.


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BA
ballz · 18 years ago

2 years ago I was poor and I use Yahoo
now that I’m rich , I use Google.

Data seems correct


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SP
Spidey · 18 years ago

I love Google… Gmail too.

But Im not rich.


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KI
Kiven · 18 years ago

Abe, US ito ano? Im interested to see what the local stats are hmmm pero it will boil down to what is installed sa i-cafe


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DU
Dusty · 18 years ago

Hmmm … does this mean that

*Radio Station Analogy*

Google = RX 93.9

Yahoo = 90.7 Love Radio

???

HeHe


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DA
Dara · 18 years ago

I’m wondering about the mechanics of this study. How big was the sample? What’s the margin of error? I don’t entirely buy it, just due to my personal experiences not aligning with the results. But interesting nonetheless, I’d like to see more about it.


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SP
spidamang · 18 years ago

^not really. I use google too. :D


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JH
jhay · 18 years ago

I’m not rich, I’m young and I use Google more than Yahoo!, so am I an anomaly? :P


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