Singapore’s Most Visited Website Is Now Google
June 22, 2008 – 8:31 pm | by Daryl TayAbout four months ago I posted the Top 100 Websites in Singapore as reported by Alexa. Just earlier in the week at work I happened to check out the site again, and interestingly Google.com.sg has now taken over with Yahoo.com in second place. Main Google is at #7, localised yahoo.com.sg nowhere to be seen.
Two observations and a question:
1) Since Google has two spots in the top 10 list, they’re obviously beating the crap out of Yahoo, which should make Google very happy indeed and companies should know where to advertise now.
2) Localised Google (ie the .sg version) is right at the top, suggesting the increased preference for localised search.
Which brings me to the first question: Why isn’t Rednano on the list at all? I’m almost definitely sure that it provides better search results than Google when it comes to localised search, but somehow it doesn’t seem to be used. Anyone want to shed some light?
And the second: What changed in two months?
Tags: alexa data, Google, google.com.sg, paid search, rednano, Search, top 100 websites in singapore, yahoo, yahoo and google
12 Responses to “Singapore’s Most Visited Website Is Now Google”
By Yuhui on Jun 22, 2008 | Reply
I generally wouldn’t use Alexa’s results as empirical evidence of rankings, due to the way it measures such “top sites”. The list is useful as a guide, but not to make sweeping statements, e.g. Google is beating the crap out of Yahoo.
By Daryl Tay on Jun 22, 2008 | Reply
@Yuhui: I think most of the stats point to Google having a 60% marketshare to Yahoo with roughly 25-30%. If double marketshare doesn’t constitute beating the crap out of the competition, I don’t know what does? In any case, I’d find it hard to show someone this data (how it’s calculated is not the point), and for them to say they’d choose to pump advertising in Yahoo instead.
By Yuhui on Jun 22, 2008 | Reply
Are those stats for global, regional or just Singapore?
By Daryl Tay on Jun 22, 2008 | Reply
@Yuhui: It’s the figure that turns up when you Google “Google’s marketshare” or “Google’s marketshare in Singapore”. Of course in certain parts of the world it’s less (China) and in Europe it’s a little more, but I think evened out, 60% is probably about right. Unless you have stats showing Yahoo having more?
By Yuhui on Jun 22, 2008 | Reply
Well, there’s this and this.
Note: both Hitwise and Alexa have different data collection methodologies, both of which aren’t perfect. Read the bullet point on “External data sources” in this article.
So the next question to ask is: are you comparing search engine vs search engine traffic? Or website vs website?
By Jayson Ang on Jun 22, 2008 | Reply
Another factor that lead to the push of Google ranking is Firefox, noticed that Firefox homepage is Google? And as Firefox downloads climb, so does the page visits on Google …
By Mark on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
I got the stats but I can’t share them cause of confidentiality issues. But Yahoo!’s market share has been in decline, they’re still big in Asia though!
I think its more to do with familiarity of a search engine. Even is Rednano had a better localized search, a user’s preferred starting point for searching for something is still vital.
Besides, I think ppl just like using 1-2 search engines if they can find what they need cause its more convenient.
By Daryl Tay on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
@Yuhui: So in the first link it shows Yahoo having the #1 spot, and aggregating five sites, just matches Google’s two sites. And in the 2nd it shows Google at more than 60% and Yahoo just touching 30% (ie double). I’m personally not comparing anything, I just look at what the website shows me and make gauges from there. Just like the way anyone else with imperfect data would. And given that I don’t think many people are in the privileged position of knowing the perfect data of both Google and Yahoo, that’s the next best thing. The point is it doesn’t matter which data you look at, they generally show that Google leads. So I don’t think there’s a sweeping statement since as you’ve pointed out, both Hitwise and Alexa have different methodologies, but yet the final result is fairly consistent.
@Jayson Ang: Hmm. Good observation. I’m of the mind that FireFox is still relatively niche and not mainstream yet (not just here but everywhere else as well since globally the FF3 launch hit 8m and only about 6k were from SG. Supposedly). But sure, I suppose even ten thousand a day multiplied everyday would help. I wonder if the adoption rate of FF shot up in 4 months then.
@Mark: Haha okay please don’t reveal the stats here! Don’t want to get you into trouble. I did think about the familiarity issue but slipped my mind when I was writing it. I think that could be a major part of it. I started out using Yahoo in ‘96 but only moved to Google in maybe ‘04, although it had been around for awhile.
By Derrick Kwa on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
I don’t know about you, but personally, I don’t really think about localized search. The thing is, Google.com tends to default to the localized version. I think they have an auto-redirect based on IP address or something.
But either way, the point is that going to Google.com redirects to Google.com.sg. So personally, I don’t think that a high ranking for the local version really reflects a preference for local search.
I could be wrong (I don’t have any research or anything on this), but I would think it’s more probably that people just type in Google.com and are redirected to the local version. I don’t think many people actually make a conscious effort to go for local search.
By Daryl Tay on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
@Derrick: Really? When I search it seems to stay on the global version though with the “pages from Singapore” as an un-ticked version. Also, I did meet Derek from Google at a TDM meeting where he suggested that users tend to go specifically for localised search, which I factored in as well.
By JT on Jul 10, 2008 | Reply
Rednano.sg has better localized search but people are reluctant to use it due to the following reasons
1. Used to Google/Yahoo, afraid to change
2. Lack of cool things like E-mail, horoscopes etc
3. Irrational biasness of all things Singaporean
4. Lack of awareness
By Daryl Tay on Jul 10, 2008 | Reply
@JT: I have no idea why #3 is so. It’s a good product!