Yahoo Edges Out Google in Satisfaction

Survey results from the University of Michigan show Yahoo has a slight edge when it comes to customer satisfaction.

Despite all the buzz that constantly surrounds Google’s standard-defining search engine, new web applications, and competitive business maneuvers, a new survey shows that the California company is no longer the king of customer satisfaction on the web. According to the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index, Yahoo is actually the new favorite of Web users.

The difference between the companies’ respective scores is actually miniscule, though: Yahoo scored 79 while Google scored 78. Given the index’s two percent margin of error, the results could easily be brushed off, but another perspective gives a slightly weightier statistic. For Google, that scored has dipped 3.7 percent from last year, and for Yahoo, it’s jumped 3.9 percent.

MSN and Ask.com were tied for third among Web companies with a score of 75, while AOL lagged behind the industry with 67. The scores are created by interviewing randomly selected consumers about their recent experiences with the various companies. Each company’s ACSI score is based on over 250 interviews.