The American Customer Satisfaction Index found that Google is the No. 1 search engine in terms of user satisfaction, but Americans are generally pleased with their experience on all major platforms.

As part of the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index, search engines received strong marks from the general public. With Google, Bing, Ask.com and Yahoo all rating at least 78 out of 100. For marketers, high levels of satisfaction with search engines demonstrates their role in the lives of Americans searching the web for information, whether it’s to inform a purchase or find local movie times. It also suggests that users are finding relevant results, meaning quality counts for SEO success. This should inspire marketers to step up their website content.

Google, the leader in search, received an 82 in the survey, while Bing scored an 81. Despite its rapid fall in terms of market share, Yahoo received a 78 from respondents, while Ask.com landed an 80.

While general happiness with search results has declined from one year ago, when the average score of search engines was 80, consumers continue to use the channel to start their web experience. In fact, Brafton recently reported that 89 percent of consumers start research for purchase decisions with search.

Bing, Yahoo and other underdog search engines included in the poll can glean positives with so many people generally pleased with their products. However, Google’s lead in the survey, paired with its massive advantage in the market, means these companies have major work to do to attract attention from both consumers and marketers.

Brafton recently highlighted comScore’s search rankings from June, which said Google fielded 66.8 percent of all queries in the month. Bing ended the month with 15.6 percent of searches, and Yahoo suffered its 10th-consecutive month of decline, falling to 13 percent.

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.