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Google Ranks First Overall in Third-Party Survey of Search and Portal Users

Fast-Growing Search Destination Site Surpasses Popular Search and Portal Sites in Effectiveness, User Satisfaction and Loyalty

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., December 10, 1999 – Google Inc., one of the fastest growing search engines on the web, today announced the results of a competitive survey conducted by NPD Online Research, in which Google placed first overall among 13 search and portal sites for user satisfaction and loyalty.

According to NPD, Google led all sites with 97 percent of its users identifying Google as much or somewhat better than other sites; 95 percent of its users finding what they are searching for all or most of the time; and eight in 10 users choosing Google because it delivers the best search results. Among the 13 search and portal sites in the survey, Google placed first in six of nine loyalty and satisfaction categories. Google’s remarkably strong debut performance in the industrywide survey positions it as one of the highest regarded destinations on the Internet today.

The quarterly NPD survey, which gathered data throughout October and November, was commissioned by 13 major Internet companies: AltaVista, AOL, Ask Jeeves, Excite, Go Network, Google, GoTo.com, HotBot, LookSmart, Lycos, Netscape, WebCrawler, and Yahoo! Google, in its debut appearance on the survey, was rated first in the following categories:

  • Overall Site Effectiveness: Google ranked first among all sites surveyed with an "excellent" ranking. Users evaluated sites based on relevancy of results, ease of use, speed, and reliability.
  • Overall Opinion of Site: Google scored first among all sites with a record-setting 65 percent of Google users voting the site "excellent" and 95 percent of Google users having an "excellent" or "very good" opinion of Google.
  • Recommend to a Friend: Google topped all sites with 99 percent of its users indicating that they would recommend Google to a friend.
  • Comparison with Other Sites: Google topped all other sites with 72 percent of respondents rating Google as "much better" than the other sites in the survey.
  • Share of Future Visits: Google placed first among all participants as having the highest share of visitors who plan to return to their site.
  • Bookmark Rate: Among all sites, Google had the highest percentage of users who bookmarked its site.

"We are thrilled with this strong third-party validation of Google as the best search experience on the web," said Larry Page, CEO and co-founder of Google. "Google fills a real void in the Internet precisely because we have a manic passion for pure, unadulterated search."

Google’s president and co-founder Sergey Brin added: "Google strives to get Internet users to the information they want as quickly and efficiently as possible, and that’s all we do. We’ve engendered such strong loyalty because Google provides the purest and most powerful search experience on the web."

About the Survey

The NPD survey was conducted among more than 39,000 qualified respondents during October and November 1999. Visitors were invited to answer surveys based on prior experience with the site they were intercepted from. Participants were offered a chance to be included in a drawing for a $1,000 cash prize. Subscribers to the study included AOL, AltaVista, Ask Jeeves, Excite, HotBot, GO Network, Google, GoTo.com, LookSmart, Lycos, Netscape WebCrawler, and Yahoo!

About Google Inc.

Google was founded in 1998 by Stanford University Ph.D. candidates Larry Page and Sergey Brin to create a new generation of powerful, scalable search engine products to improve the user experience of searching the web. Based on four years of advanced research in computer science, Google is dedicated to providing the best user search experience by delivering a powerful, yet simple-to-use format for finding the most relevant answers to search queries.

Google currently offers search solutions through its own destination site at www.google.com. The company also offers co-branded web search and site search solutions for information content providers. Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., is privately held. Its funding partners include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital. More information about Google can be found on the company’s website at www.google.com.

About The NPD Group

The NPD Group is an international marketing information company headquartered in Port Washington, NY. Founded in 1953, the firm specializes in providing marketing information and associated computer software-based information management systems. NPD is the ninth largest market research firm in the U.S. based upon 1998 revenues, according to the American Marketing Association’s Honomichl 50. NPD Online Research is a division of The NPD Group, which uses World Wide Web-based technologies to conduct and deliver market research and analysis. In addition to SiteSelect, NPD Online Research also offers The NPD Online Panel, a pre-recruited sample of Internet representative individuals for conducting marketing research on the Web. For more information visit the NPD Group Web site at www.npd.com.

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Google is a trademark of Google, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

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