• 91% of Internet users worldwide, that is roughly 356 million people, visited a search engine in December
• Over the last 6 months, Google has a 71.6% share of the global search engine market and Yahoo has 5.5%
• Law related searches have risen nearly 600% in the last five years
• Nearly ½ of all law related searches focus on searching for legal services
• Top legal related search engine topics include Legal Forms, Attorney, Lawyer, Bankruptcy and Divorce
• In the USA, several search engines have stated "Law Related" searches are growing by leaps and bounds.

 Growth of Law Related Internet Searches
There has been an astronomical growth rate of search engine usage related to the legal community.  Law related searches have grown over 600% in the last five years.  The upward trending does not seem to have cooled down.  Projections indicate the upward trend to continue in to the next several years.

• Total number of search users have grown by 10% over the last year;
• Search engine user number have grown most dramatically in the USA;
• In the USA, the highest growth came from Yahoo (12%) followed by Google (6%) while MSN Live Search and Ask went through reductions of 15% and 30% respectively;
• Law related searches grew 120% last year alone;
• The most popular law related search term last year was Lawyer; and
• The fastest growing law related search term was Bankruptcy;
  
  

Internet User Behavior
As the search engine industry matures, so do the users. The average number of keywords per query has steadily increased year upon year, the number of searches per session has increased and the frequency of searches have risen.

• On average, searchers spent 27 minutes on search engines each month and viewed 93 search pages, accounting for 3.4% of total time spent online;
• The heaviest search users come from USA, France and Spain;
• U.S.A. searchers are the highest users;
• Over 60% of search engine visitors use at least two different search engines;
• Most Internet users use a search engine as their point of entry to the Internet; and
• Search behavior varies on different search engines.
  
  

Internet Usage Trending: Law Related
A survey conducted in 2007 found a continuing upward trend in search engine marketing activity and budgets.

• 62% of advertisers surveyed said they plan to increase Internet marketing spend over the next 12 months;
  
• Advertisers and agencies are generally satisfied with the ROI from Internet marketing;
• The main objective for most Internet marketers is to generate online sales and build brand awareness;
• The main problem advertisers face was found to be increasing competition;
• Focused advertising (industry specific) is more important than SEO for advertisers; and
• Mobile search, video search and industry specific search are areas where advertisers plan to spend more in the coming years.