I see Google’s expansion of queries to use synonyms to be a positive step – it makes it more likely that people can find information that they may be searching for.

I agree with you that it is a good idea to carefully consider putting synonyms and related terms on the pages of your site as well. Most businesses should review and update their business models on a periodic basis – the world changes, and the needs and interests of people who might be your customers change as well.

It’s possible that those of us who work on the web, and pay attention to what search engines are doing on a regular basis might be more likely to laugh when Google provides results that just don’t come close to being relevant for a query than people who are given a choice between Google and looking at another search engine.

There’s an interesting paper from a couple of Microsoft researchers on switching behaviors that is worth a look, named Characterizing and Predicting Search Engine Switching Behavior (pdf). A short snippet from the paper:

Of the 14.2 million users in our log sample, 10.3 million (72.6%) used more than one engine in the six-month duration of the logs, 7.1 million (50.0%) switched engines within a search session at least once, and 9.6 million (67.6%) used different engines for different sessions (i.e., engaged in between-session switching). In addition, 0.6 million users (4.4%) “defected”1 from one search engine to another and never returned to the previous engine.

It isn’t unusual for people to switch from one search engine to another during a search session, and 4% of the searchers studied switched for good. It does happen.

It can be pretty frustrating when you perform searches, and try a few different queries, and the results you get only bear a passing resemblance to what you might be looking for. I remember back when I stopped searching as much at Alta Vista, and starting using a new search engine named Google more frequently. It could happen with Google as well…

“Completely agree. Some of those 2% searchers might be disappointed enough to might move over to another search engine.”

I dont agree, even if some get disappointed there is a very small possibility to turn to another SE.
Why? just because there is none better SE than G.

Completely agree. Some of those 2% searchers might be disappointed enough to might move over to another search engine.