Consumer searchers on AOL were most likely to make online purchases in January, possibly as a result of differences in the demographics of those using various search engines, writes DM News, citing a new WebSideStory index. WebSideStory compared the median conversion rates of four major search engines for business-to-consumer e-commerce sites; AOL had the best rate (6.17 percent), followed by MSN (6.03 percent), Yahoo (4.07 percent) and Google (3.83 percent).

"With portals rich in content and services, AOL, MSN and Yahoo may tend to appeal toward a more buyer-friendly demographic," Ali Behnam, senior digital marketing consultant at WebSideStory, is quoted as saying.

Google conversion rates for apparel websites were 2.33 percent compared with 4.51 percent for sports and leisure sites - possibly suggesting that its demo is skews male and shows buying intent.