Microsoft seemed, for a while, to be making a move in increasing search share via its Club Live site, but just released August search shares* seem to indicate a return to the pre-June status quo, writes Compete’s Jeremy Crane.
After gains in June and July, MSN/Live search market share (volume of search queries) lost nearly a point in August, according to Compete, though the absolute number of queries increased some 3% from the previous month.
Google, the dominant engine, accounted for nearly two-thirds of searches – its highest level ever – in August, up almost a point in market share – and up 3.5% in search volume from July. Both Yahoo and Ask shares were all but unchanged.
Also, according to Compete’s Crane:
- Google market share increased to its highest level yet with year-over-year gains in web search queries near 50%.
- Yahoo market share was flat despite a small increase in query volume.
- MSN/Live market share ticked down but remained near year-ago levels.
- Ask market share remained at July levels but was down from August 2006.
* Search market share includes web search only and is calculated based on unique queries within each session.
