Keynote Systems this week released results of a study ranking customer attitudes toward major Web search engines including Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask Jeeves. As would be expected, Google came in top of the heap across measurements for brand impact, customer satisfaction, loyalty, and future usage.But one surprise is that the research results indicate Yahoo and MSN have closed the gap since the study was last conducted in May 2004. After Google, Yahoo was ranked second, followed by MSN, Ask Jeeves, and Lycos. The study of 2,000 consumers measures user perceptions and actual search results. Search engine success is based on the presentation of results and brand affinity, according to Keynote. The actual search results returned by the five search engines compared in the study do not differ significantly, Keynote officials said. The difference is more about perception, the study found.The Keynote Customer Experience (CE) Rankings track opinions and collect qualitative and behavioral data as users perform tasks at each site, according to Keynote.Also notable is that local search results appear to be key area of user frustration and an emerging battleground for customer loyalty. Yahoo made improvements in this area in the past year, with the launch of an expanded local search service. According to Keynote, Yahoo showed significant improvement in the ranking of the quality of its local search results, tying Google in leading the industry in this category. Across all search sites, almost one in four (22%) users complain that the local results are not what they are looking for or are not ranked appropriately. Although Google is far and away the leader in Web search, the capricious nature of the Web means that Google’s reign may not be permanent. “Google is the king of customer experience in the search engine industry, but Yahoo!, MSN and Ask Jeeves are improving,” said Dr. Bonny Brown, director of research and public services for Keynote, in a statement. “Given the open nature of the Web, as these sites continue to improve the user experience they will undoubtedly begin to attract more users and improve user loyalty.”Furthermore, the study reported that even though 75 percent of users say they have one primary search engine, when search expectations are not met as many as 50 percent of users will turn to another search engine as an alternative. Additionally, up to 20 percent of users regularly use different search engines for different types of searches. Technology Industry