While Yahoo may not own the largest piece of the search market, it's still the preferred brand over Google, according to a recent report.

Data from the University of Michigan American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) showed Yahoo had seen its customer satisfaction score rise 3.9 percent from a year ago to 79 out of 100 points, while Google's rating fell about 3.7 percent to 78 points.

While Google remains the dominant Web search engine, Yahoo's Internet presence is gaining user approval for its network of Web sites, e-mail, social networks and other features, according to the survey.

I'm a huge fan of Flickr and del.icio.us, so I can see that their social networks play a big role in this approval system.

However, many webmasters on WebmasterWorld believe that the poll doesn't amount to much. They believe that Yahoo's search technology needs improvement. Even so, that doesn't discount the fact that their social sites totally rock.

Another WebmasterWorld thread points out that Yahoo "topped Google as a portal, but not as a search engine." The same is echoed in a DigitalPoint Forums thread. That would explain the doubt in the first WebmasterWorld thread.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld (1), WebmasterWorld (2), and DigitalPoint Forums.

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