I am attaching a .tgz file with the tests I have performed.

The .tgz file contains also a README.txt file with more detailed information.

I have done the following test:
The script loads the HTML file 'search.html' in 'rawdata' and searches '>' in a loop from the position 'i', being i in: range(len(rawdata)).

with the three variants: "in" + "find" (test1.py), "find" (test2.py), "index" (test3.py).

Result:
Script          First run       Second run      Third run
---------------------------------------------------------
test1.py        2.33            2.32            2.33
test2.py        0.75            0.74            0.76
test3.py        0.75            0.74            0.74


I don't know if the test is representative and whether it helps.
If you think that the test could be improved/changed, just let me know, I will be happy to help.