Dogpile improves by 14 points since 2006 to earn a score of 818 on a 1,000-point scale. Dogpile performs particularly well among Internet service subscribers in all three factors that determine overall satisfaction (listed in order of importance): functionality, ease of use and results. Google follows Dogpile in the rankings with a score of 794, while Ask.com follows Google, earning a score of 784.
"Dogpile continues to differentiate itself from its competition in two key ways," said Frank Perazzini, director of telecommunications research at J.D. Power and Associates. "First, Dogpile's meta search capabilities provide a one-stop search experience for Internet users by aggregating the results of many of the major search engines simultaneously. Secondly, users report that they are particularly satisfied with the limits that Dogpile places on the amount of paid advertising that accompanies search results."
The study also finds that the number of customers who report using search engines on a daily basis has increased from 66 percent in 2006 to 70 percent in 2007. Google remains the most widely accessed search engine in the study, experiencing an increase in usage of 7 percentage points from 2006 to 58 percent in 2007.
"In a market where most providers are, at best, maintaining their share, Google posts a significant share gain for a third consecutive year," said Perazzini. "Google continues to be particularly successful at making its name and brand synonymous with the execution of an internet search. Even though Dogpile, Ask.com and others also provide high levels of satisfaction, it will be quite difficult for them to break Google's grip on the market."
The 2007 Residential Online Service Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 10,787 residential customers of Internet service providers nationwide.
