3.5 Chapter 3: key points

• Search engine is the first tool used when looking for information on the Inter-net;
• There are two categories of search engines: Commercial search engines (ad-vertisement –oriented, free) and Enterprise search engines (ESE) (paying, customizable service);
• Google is the leader in the commercial search engine market with more than 60% followed by far by Yahoo. Presence of other strategic leaders in China, Russia and South Korea;
• Internet searchers are confident, satisfied and mostly trust search engines. They say they know search engines but they do not use them properly;
• They however trust more their favorite web sites and well established media;
• The ESE market is confused and crowded, not transparent as the commercial one.
• ESE users are disappointed by their search experience. The main reasons are the lack of training to those tools and the expectation to have results as pertinent as commercial search engines;
• Commercial search engine leaders are not simple search engines anymore. They are all a complex set of attractive services making Internet users depen-dent of them.
• Commercial search engines are well implemented and the market is quite ri-gid;
• Internet users can be addicted to search engines for many reasons (conveni-ence, lock-in, loyalty).
• Use of search engine is different from one to another which emphasize the importance of developing a culture of information research;
• Commercial search engines have then a strong impact on businesses;