Reuters is running an interesting story today noting that Yahoo has beat Google in a major US user-satisfaction survey. The University of Michigan American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) showed that Google is on the decline, while ASK has shown the most improvement and Yahoo is no. 1:

• Ask.com’s search engine has risen most significantly in customer satisfaction ratings, up 5.6% to 75 points. ASK’s improvement is the result of a phenomenal redesign and refocusing on its search technology, plus an ambitious $100.000.000 marketing campaign.
• Yahoo rose 3.9% to 79 out of 100 points. It’s improvement is due to a relaunching of the main site and the increasing popularity of various features and services.
• Google fell by 3.7% to 78 points. It’s decline is due to the perception that the Company has not really improved or altered its search technology and interface in years. The summary is that Google needs to find a better way to market its new features and services, because the Company is being overshadowed by the dominance of its main search engine, which doesn’t look like it has changed much. And web users want to see marked improvements in a product from year to year to increase in their user satisfaction.
• AOL dropped more than 9% to 67 points, despite its recent strategic shift from an Internet access service to an ad-supported e-mail and entertainment source. AOL’s customer satisfaction score was only slightly higher than the IRS (the US tax authorities). That’s not a good sign.