The Alta Vista search engine, from Digital Computer Co., is gaining in popularity at the expense of Yahoo, Webcrawler and Infoseek, according to results from the PC-Meter survey by NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y. NPD found that Alta Vista's share of the 1,000-member PC-Meter panel grew to 8.2% in February from 5.3% in January.
Yahoo slipped to 30.6% penetration from 32.4%, although still the highest total audience. Webcrawler fell to 30.6% from 33.2%. Infoseek remained steady at 17.4%.
Excite, meanwhile, grew to 8.9% from 7.7%; Lycos rose to 7.1% from 6.1%.
Unlike other Web measurement services that track traffic at individual sites, PC-Meter is installed on users' computers. The sample is expected to grow to 10,000 in July.
