Reasons for switching search engines in the United Kingdom (UK) 2019

A survey conducted in the United Kingdom (UK) in September 2019 revealed that 40.7 percent of respondents would switch to a different search engine if it had a better quality of results. This was followed by nearly 29 percent of respondents who said they would do the same if the search engine did not collect any personal data about them or their searches. For 3.02 percent of the respondents, being able to customize the layout was a motivating factor for switching search engines.

Market shares of leading search engines in the UK

As of September 2020, Google was by far the most popular search engine in the UK and held a market share of approximately 86.6 percent. Bing had a market share of approximately 9.7 percent in second place, followed by Yahoo! with nearly 2.2 percent. The mobile search engine market accounted for 47.6 percent of search in the UK. This was followed by desktop computer searches, with a market share of 45.5 percent.

Internet usage in the UK

Internet penetration rate in the UK has increased nearly three-fold over the last nineteen years, reaching 87 percent in 2019, up from 30 percent in 2000. In 2019, 91 percent of individuals in the UK said they accessed the internet daily. Internet usage via any device or location was highest among individuals aged between 16 and 44 years old in 2019, with at least 98 percent of individuals going online.