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YouTube Passes Yahoo As #2 Search Engine

Posted by timothy on from the your-safe-search-is-showing dept.

Dekortage writes "According to the latest ComScore rankings, YouTube's search traffic for August surpassed Yahoo's. The latter dropped roughly 5% in traffic from July. Among other things, this means that Google now owns both of the top two search engines. AdAge further speculates on Google's experimental 'promoted videos' cost-per-click advertising on YouTube, suggesting the obvious: more money."

35 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah, but... by InvisblePinkUnicorn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But how much of this is RIAA/MPAA-run robots searching for song/movie names?

  2. "Search engine"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Calling YouTube a "search engine" by comparison to Google and Yahoo is...interesting. I mean, I guess it's technically true, but it's about as relevant as comparing Google with Slashdot site search.

    1. Re:"Search engine"? by PitaBred · · Score: 4, Interesting

      A lot of people search the videos for information, talks by Richard Dawkins, car reviews, whatever. I think it's perfectly valid to call Youtube a search engine, even though it's a very specialized one.

      --
      My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
    2. Re:"Search engine"? by corsec67 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Would "grep" be considered a search engine, then?

      I use it to find stuff at work all the time.

      --
      If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
    3. Re:"Search engine"? by DancesWithBlowTorch · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's a rubbish use of the term. I guess Amazon might even be a bigger search engine than YouTube. Some of the big DNS servers are probably pretty big search engines as well.

      What a useless way of using words.

    4. Re:"Search engine"? by jonbryce · · Score: 4, Insightful

      video.google.com might be a search engine, because it can find videos from multiple sites, but mainly its own and youtube, but youtube is just a website with a search facility.

    5. Re:"Search engine"? by 4D6963 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      By that standard any site with a search feature is a search engine. A search engine is really something that provides search results from other sites, not its own site.

      --
      You just got troll'd!
    6. Re:"Search engine"? by 77Punker · · Score: 3, Informative

      People use Google or Youtube when they're not sure where to look. grep is for people who have a specific set of data to search through and need a line containing a specific term.

    7. Re:"Search engine"? by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 2, Funny

      Google is also a website with a search facility.

      --

      GPL Deconstructed
    8. Re:"Search engine"? by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Only true if Amazon traffic was higher than YouTube traffic :)

      Essentially the point is that more people are searching within YouTube for videos than within Yahoo!, for everything. Which says something about marketshare. Even Amazon is listed, and it ranks below Microsoft's Live search site.

      --

      GPL Deconstructed
    9. Re:"Search engine"? by Rary · · Score: 5, Insightful

      youtube is just a website with a search facility.

      Google is also a website with a search facility.

      YouTube is a website with the ability to search its content. Google is a website with the ability to search other sites' content.

      Basically, Google is a search engine, and YouTube has a search engine.

      --

      "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein

    10. Re:"Search engine"? by ravergonemad · · Score: 3, Informative

      True, a better comparison to Youtube would be wiki, when you already know where the content is, but need to filter it.

    11. Re:"Search engine"? by HappySmileMan · · Score: 3, Informative

      Neither grep nor YouTube are search engines, in the accepted sense of the word. YouTube employs a search engine to return results, but it isn't one in its own right.

      Well then the search engine Youtube employs has overtaken Yahoo.

      This argument was a waste of my screen space, moreso than the very debatedly inaccurate summary

    12. Re:"Search engine"? by trentrez · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The real deal is this:

      Google's search scope is "the internet"

      Youtube's search scope is "videos uploaded to it's site"

      How you define what 'is' a search engine or what 'has' a search engine is moot if you talk about the 'scope' in which a search is performed and then it's 'method'.

      If I created a search "engine" thats scope was the internet and it used the same 'method' as google then it would give me the same results as google. Same argument goes for Youtube.

      Youtube just happens to be a special case in that it is a search on a scope of video files which are a subset of it's own website. IE it searches specific conent uploaded to it's site which allows it to get added meta information from an otherwise visual medium, IE how does Google know what's in a video.. Youtube know because it asks you to tag it.

      Same with Slashdot's search, It is a search on it's own content, submissions, comments etc.

      Just because Google can search "outside of it's internal scope" (however that may be defined) doesn't make it any different or doesn't make Youtube any less of a search engine.

      The point thus stands that this is pretty damn spectacular that Youtube which is only searching a small subset of data is being used more than Yahoo which is used to access in theory the same or a similar scope to Google, ie the internet.

      How accurate the method on counting how you rate Youtube higher than Yahoo is, is open for debate. However assuming they are using the same metric they always did, according to that metric- Yahoo was above Youtube, and now it isn't. I would therefore say this is significant even if it is (without knowing exact details on how the ranking works) potentially somewhat crude.

      --
      Incite ICT - IT Support London
  3. YouTube is not a search engine by alex_vegas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People who search on yahoo are not looking to stay at yahoo. People who search at youtube are looking to stay at youtube. This story is bogus.

    1. Re:YouTube is not a search engine by ajs · · Score: 4, Funny

      I actually search for all of my Web needs on YouTube first. I find that it really reduces the number of Wikipedia links I have to surf past ;-)

    2. Re:YouTube is not a search engine by Facegarden · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The story isn't bogus... If a general purpose search site that searches the whole web, and used to be number one, now gets fewer searches than a single-purpose video search site, it really underscores how low yahoo has fallen!
      -Taylor

      --
      Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
    3. Re:YouTube is not a search engine by Rary · · Score: 4, Informative

      People who search on yahoo are not looking to stay at yahoo. People who search at youtube are looking to stay at youtube. This story is bogus.

      It should be pointed out that the article doesn't call YouTube a search engine. It lists rankings of the 5 major search engines, then it does a separate ranking of "search activity", which includes any kind of searching within a website, and includes such searchable sites as MapQuest, MySpace, and Amazon.

      --

      "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein

    4. Re:YouTube is not a search engine by marcosdumay · · Score: 2, Funny

      You also can get all that usefull info available at the user comments.

      --
      Rethinking email
  4. Competition by Wiarumas · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But is YouTube in competition with Yahoo? This is apples and oranges. Nothing to see here folks, move along.

    --
    I will bend like a reed in the wind.
    1. Re:Competition by philspear · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wait, are you saying that youtube is going to start making their own brand of computers called "Oranges" to compete with macs!?!?

    2. Re:Competition by hansraj · · Score: 5, Funny

      But is YouTube in competition with Yahoo? This is apples and oranges.

      I say that comparing the comparison of yahoo with youtube to that of apples and oranges is comparing apples with oranges!

      -------
      I wish I had something useful to say.

    3. Re:Competition by jonbryce · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, because France Telecom might object.

  5. Without porn?!? HOW??? by philspear · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm inclined to doubt this. Youtube doesn't host any porn. That's easily 70% of the internet right there.

    You mean to tell me that people are now more interested in videos of people getting hit in the nuts and TV clips that are not SNL or daily show than they are in sex? LIES!

  6. What? by clarkkent09 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When I am on Youtube I typically perform several searches and stay on Youtube the whole time. On the other hand when I go to a search engine I typically perform one search and click on one of the results and leave the search site. As somebody else pointed out the media company bots must be constantly searching Youtube for certain keywords to identify copyright violations. The whole comparison is nonsense.

    Last I heard Yahoo still beats both Google and Youtube in total number of unique visitors and that is the stat that matters to advertisers.

    --
    Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
  7. Re:Without porn?!? HOW??? by Wescotte · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is a special keyword to use on youtube to get to the porn section. You must not have elite access. Just email them asking for elite access with a hacker resume of sorts and you should be able to gain access. Just keep it on the down low though.

  8. Re:Regulatory Problems? by clarkkent09 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How did all these people end up on YouTube in the first place? What search engines feed the most people onto the site?

    That's a good point. For most google searches these days I tend to get something like this:

    1. Wikipedia entry
    2,3 youtube videos
    4. google news
    5.... everything else, still sprinkled with videos, mostly youtube

    If google owned Wikipedia then most of their top search results would be leading back to google sites.

    --
    Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
  9. Wrong wrong and wrong by ohtani · · Score: 3, Informative

    The article is being read incorrectly. "YouTube/All Other" is surpassing Yahoo!, meaning anything that is part of Google! could be included, such as the book, code and news searches. Or groups. Or Picasa. All combined.

    Take a look at Microsoft's stats. It's split into Live and Microsoft.com/All Other

    --
    Pancakes. Oh I blew it.
  10. Re:Without porn?!? HOW??? by melstav · · Score: 5, Informative

    If porn is what you're looking for, there are sites very similar to YouTube where that's all they do.

    http://www.youporn.com
    http://www.pornotube.com

    Just to provide two examples.

  11. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  12. So that means... by nog_lorp · · Score: 2, Funny

    Google is number 2 to Google? How long till that new upstart 'Google' takes number 3?

  13. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  14. Not Suprising..... by IHC+Navistar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is no suprise..... Yahoo has long allowed their service to degrade in favor of profit. The thing that made Google *the* search engine when they came out was that the page consisted of just a logo that said GOOGLE and a field to enter your search into. If you wanted info on other services GOOGLE had to offer, all you did was click a little hyperlink and you would then be taken to another page with the services on it.

    Yahoo, on the other hand, crammed their page with every advertisement, product plug, sales pitch, and "junk" shopping service they could possibly fit onto the page.

    Google is a simple, easy to use search engine, and it is absolutely no suprise it has become as giant as it is. This is mainly due to the simple, uncluttered sales-pitch free interface. The simple interface ade people want to use it, thus generating more money, thus allowing it to grow bigger.

    Yahoo has turned itself into the America Online of serch engines: Nothing but advertisements, sales pitches, product tie-ins, marketing, and "junk" services.

    --
    Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
    1. Re:Not Suprising..... by Futil3 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      A picture says more than a thousand words...

  15. Re:Without porn?!? HOW??? by marcosdumay · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's the best part of the joke. How many resumées would the YouTube admins get if it was modded Funny? And informative?

    --
    Rethinking email