ComScore refines search measurements

Online measurement company comScore Inc. is refining how it presents data on search market share to reflect changes in user behavior. Generally, search market share statistics have been accumulated by counting the entries in the boxes at sites run by Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and other engines. Now comScore wants to capture searches done in other ways and on other sites — for information on Wikipedia, for instance, and product listings at eBay Inc.'s auction site and the Amazon.com Inc. retail store. "Search is no longer the box we're all used to," comScore Chief Executive Magid Abraham said during a private demonstration on his laptop. "A more fluid definition of the market necessitates looking at search more broadly."