More men than women tend to use Google, and women prefer Yahoo, MSN, AOL and Ask Jeeves (to varying degrees), reports Internet Retailer, citing comScore figures. But the significant differences for marketers regarding paid search have more to do with searcher buying power and intent, according to the research.

In June, the audience breakdown by gender at Google was 51.5 percent male, compared with 49.7 percent at Yahoo, 49 percent at MSN.com, 48.1 percent at AOL Search, and 46.3 percent at Ask Jeeves.

ComScore research indicates that June visitors to Google sites were 42 percent more likely to buy online than the average internet user. Yahoo visitors were 31 percent more likely to purchase; MSN users, 48 percent more likely; AOL users, 3 percent; and Ask Jeeves users, 17 percent.

Apparently, though, other factors may make a bigger difference to marketers regarding search results among various search engines, at least in terms of direct conversions.

The portal search sites - AOL, MSN and Yahoo - tend to get more simple search queries, in contrast to Google, where more complex search queries tend to be made. And the more specific the term, the more likely (in the short term) that it will result in a direct conversion, according to comScore.

However, while specific terms have higher immediate conversion rates, users of broader search terms may well end up making a purchase later online, or even offline, based on their online research.