A new report out by Hitwise, has confirmed what we’ve seen in our own advertising campaigns - that not all search engine visitors are created equal (or the same) in terms of willingness to spend online.

The recently updated report by Hitwise’s VP of Research, Heather Hopkins - suggests that Google users are more likely to spend $500 or more online as compared to long time rival Yahoo!

Heather updated her report, which she first tabled in Feb this year, in light of the recent Google-Yahoo! advertising deal.

The report also compares each search engine’s user base in socio-graphic terms. The results make it fairly obvious why Google users are more likely to spend online when you consider its strength in segments such as Affluent Suburbia and Upscale America.

The chart below is Heather’s updated Online Representation Index. The larger the colored circle, the higher the likelihood that the group will spend over $500 online.

For a detailed definition of each segment, visit Heathers post over at the Hitwise blog.

It’s seems fairly obvious that e-commerce operators and online retailers are more likely to generated revenue based conversions from Google, but that said - if you’re targeting the segments that frequent Yahoo!, spreading your search advertising budget around could be a worthwhile test.