According to a new Compete search-loyalty study, Google users are by far the most loyal to the engine, with seven of ten remaining constant to their beloved engine, writes Danny Sullivan in the SearchEngineWatch blog (via SearchEngineLowdown). Still, nearly one-third of Google users stray in their search for search love. Google, Yahoo, and MSN earned the most fidelity from their users.

The details: Google, 71.0 percent; Yahoo, 48.1 percent; MSN, 27.8 percent; Excite, 23.4 percent; AOL, 23.2 percent; Ask, 21.6 percent; AltaVista, 16.6 percent; Clusty, 10.3 percent; A9, 6.4 percent; Lycos, 5.8 percent.

The study (PDF, registration required) also breaks down search share by "personalized homepage users" and "competitor breakdown."