I am not convinced. We are creatures of habit. And while geeks might be inclinded to double check their query elsewhere, most users are most certainly not going to use more than one search engine.

Google leads among search engines, growing its market share to 41% of online searches from 31% two years ago – but competition for users remains fierce among the top engines, and new, niche engines are joining the fray. For that reason, marketers who depend on search marketing need to develop an understanding of how consumers use multiple engines, according to a new Forrester Research report, “Search loyalty is hard to find.”

One indicator of consumers` willingness to travel among search engines is that the rise of a number of smaller engines has reduced the combined market share of online searches held by the top four engines – Google, MSN, Yahoo and AOL Search – to 83% in 2004 from 88% in 2003, according to report author, Forrester analyst Brian Haven. Despite its advantage of being on the first page MSN users see when they go online, MSN’s share dropped to 10% in 2004 from 17% last year, placing just ahead of AOL. Yahoo’s search has held steady in second place in terms of market share over the past two years. [Read the rest]