YouTube Search

Thanks to its ever-expanding volume of video content, YouTube is now a legitimate search platform as well as entertainment destination. Many now use it as their first stop for search/content, or at least as a second step to land better results.

In fact, in late 2008 YouTube passed Yahoo as the #2 search engine. YouTube now accounts for roughly 25% of its parent’s (Google) search volume, according to comScore’s qSearch report…in November 2008 that totaled 2.8 billion searches, about 200 million more than Yahoo that same month.

The trend should continue as more and more people get hold of cheap/easy video cameras and editing programs. While video won’t replace text search/results (some content doesn’t work well in video format, and the lack of link capability limits its usefulness), it will be a legitimate complement.

At the same time, Google is working to “monetize” all the YouTube search volume by launching a Sponsored Videos program….based on its keyword bidding format. Here’s a sample of what your new YouTube results page may look like:

comScore’s numbers also show how Google continues to pull ahead in its overall share of the search market: