Google Ranked No. 1 By Search Engine Users (Again!)

Fast-Growing Search Destination Site Increases Lead Over 12 Popular Search and Portal Sites in Effectiveness, User Satisfaction, and Loyalty for Second Consecutive Quarter

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – April 13, 2000 – Google Inc., one of the fastest growing search engines on the web, today thanked its devoted community of users for selecting Google as the No. 1 search engine in the Search & Portal Site Tracking Study conducted by leading independent research company NPD New Media Services. For the second quarter in a row, Google placed first overall among 13 search and portal sites for user satisfaction and loyalty.

The majority of the Internet users surveyed awarded Google the highest marks possible in almost all categories. The study, conducted during the first quarter of 2000 by NPD New Media Services, a division of The NPD Group, measured consumer opinions and loyalty to leading search services, including AltaVista, AOL.com, Ask Jeeves, Excite, GO Network, Google, GoTo, HotBot, Lycos, MSN, Netscape, WebCrawler and Yahoo!.

Google led all sites with 99 percent of its users identifying Google as much or somewhat better than other sites; 97 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 performance in the industry wide survey reinforces its position as one of the highest regarded destinations on the Internet today and demonstrates its continued momentum in the search category.

"We are thrilled that the fanatical community of Google users assigns such high value to Google’s search service, especially when compared to other more established brands," said Larry Page, CEO and co-founder of Google. "This data soundly reaffirms that simple, easy-to-use search technology is the preferred method for finding information on the Internet today."

For the second quarter in a row, Google was rated first in the following categories:

No. 1 Overall Site Effectiveness: Google ranked first among all sites surveyed in the following attribute categories: relevancy of results, ease of use, speed, reliability, currency of information, organization, fulfills user needs, value and comprehensiveness of results.
No. 1 Overall Opinion of Site: Ninety-eight percent of Google users indicated an "excellent" or "very good" opinion of Google, and Google scored first among all sites with a record-setting 73 percent of Google users voting the site "excellent."
No. 1 Site Recommended to a Friend: Google topped all sites with 97 percent of its users indicating that they would recommend Google to a friend.
No. 1 Comparison With Other Sites: Ninety-nine percent of Google users rated Google to be "much better" or "somewhat better" than others, and Google topped all other sites with 80 percent of respondents rating Google as "much better" than the other sites in the survey.
No. 1 Share of Future Visits: Google placed first among all participants as having the highest share of visitors who plan to return to its site.
No. 1 Bookmark Rate: Among all sites, Google had the highest percentage of users who bookmarked its site, at 82 percent of those surveyed.

"The ultimate honor is to again see a vast majority of the survey participants indicating that they would recommend Google to a friend," said Google president and cofounder, Sergey Brin. "This is yet another example of the explosive viral growth our site traffic has experienced. Rather than distract ourselves with expensive marketing campaigns, we remain focused on delivering only the most useful and relevant search experience to our users."

About the Study

The NPD Search & Portal Site Tracking Study was fielded during Quarter 1 2000 using the NPD Online Research SiteSelect® methodology, which selects a randomized sample of visitors to a client’s web site and invites them to complete a survey through an ad banner invitation. For this study, ad banners were placed in general rotation on each of the participating sites. A total of 33,148 site visitors completed the survey.

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 insight into consumer purchasing and behavior via both Internet-based and traditional research methodologies. NPD offers proprietary databases and research expertise in more than 20 industries, including new media, apparel, automotive products, consumer electronics, cosmetics and fragrances, financial services, food, foodservice, footwear, housewares, information technology, interactive entertainment, pharmaceuticals, toys, and more. NPD also offers a full range of analytical tools and access to prerecruited consumer panels for ad hoc research. Our Online Research Panel is a sample of hundreds of thousands of Internet-representative individuals who have agreed to participate in market research conducted on the web. NPD is the developer of the revolutionary web audience measurement technology now marketed by Media Metrix, Inc. The firm has offices and affiliations in 36 countries, covering North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

About Google

Google exists to provide the world’s best Internet search experience. Google accomplishes this for millions of users daily by delivering a powerful, fast, and easy way to find the most relevant information available. Google’s technological innovations have powered the company to numerous awards, including "Best Search Engine on the Internet" from Yahoo! Internet Life; "Top Ten Best Cybertech of 1999" by TIME Magazine; "Technical Excellence Award" from PC Magazine; and "Best Search Engine" by The Net.

Google offers free search services through its own destination web site at www.google.com, as well as co-branded search solutions for information content and portal developers including AOL/Netscape, Redhat.com and Washingtonpost.com. A privately held company based in Mountain View, Calif., Google was founded by Stanford doctoral students Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998. Investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital, and partners John Doerr and Michael Moritz serve on the Google board with Ram Shriram, former executive at Amazon.com and Netscape. For more information, please visit www.google.com.

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