The Microsoft Bing search engine displayed dramatic growth in 2010, according to a new white paper from comScore. “The 2010 US Digital Year in Review” indicates that Microsoft’s explicit core search volume (primarily represented by Bing) grew 29% during 2010, driven by an 8% increase in unique searchers and 20% increase in searches per searcher.
Google Gains, AOL Loses
Meanwhile, number one US online search provider Google Sites’ search query volume grew 13%, driven mostly by gains in searches per searcher (up 10%). Number two Yahoo Sites increased total search query volume 4%, with an 8% rise in unique searchers partially offset by a 4% drop in searcher per searcher.
Number five online search provider AOL LLC had its total search query volume drop 8% during 2010 as the result of a steep 25% drop in unique searchers. The US core search market grew 12% overall in 2010, driven by a 4% gain in unique searchers and an 8% gain in searches per searcher.
In December 2010, 69.4% of all searches carried organic search results from Google, while 24.4% of searches were powered by Bing organic results.
Search Frequently Used for Navigation
comScore analysis reveals the top search terms overall in 2010 across the five major search engines. The top search phrase overall in 2010 was “Facebook,” which accounted for 1.9 billion search queries during the course of the year. “YouTube” ranked second with 790.7 million searches, followed by “Google” with 615.9 million searches and “Yahoo mail” with 562.2 million searches.
Also ranking among the top search phrases for the year were “Craigslist” with 546.9 million searches, “MySpace” with 360.1 million searches and “eBay” with 311.1 million searches. comScore analysis indicates the prevalence of popular websites among the top searches indicates the heavy use of search for navigation, even in favor of typing in a URL into the browser’s navigation bar.
‘eBay’ Top Paid Search Click Generator
In terms of phrases generating the most paid search clicks in 2010, “eBay” was a clear leader with 99.2 million clicks, suggesting a heavy paid search marketing strategy. “Netflix” took second place with 43.1 million clicks, followed by “Yellow Pages” with 36.2 million clicks and “Verizon wireless” with 29.8 million clicks.
Google Accounts for 3 in 5 Searches
Google remained the clear US search market leader in 2010, accounting for more than three out of every five USsearches throughout the year. The property peaked in December 2010 with 66.6% of explicit core searches, while Yahoo Sites ranked second at 16%
Microsoft Sites also reached its 2010 high point in December 2010, representing 12% percent of explicit core searches conducted. Ask Network and AOL LLC ended the year with 3.5% and 1.9% of searches conducted, respectively.
Compete: Microsoft Search Grows Dramatically YOY
Microsoft search, primarily reflecting usage of the Bing search engine, dramatically grew year-over-year in December 2010, according to recent Compete data. Unique visitors increased 35.2%, from 62 million to 84 million, query volume grew 69.4%, from 1.4 billion to 2.37 billion, and market share grew 52%, from 9.8% to 14.9%. Month-over-month growth was healthy but much smaller, likely indicating Bing is reaching maturity now it has been generally available since June 2009.
