Mike Andrew Consulting

Microsoft Loses Some Search Gains

By mike, Dec 17 in blog with 0 comments

Microsoft sites, which have recently shown impressive month-over-month growth in core and explicit search queries, backslid a bit in November 2010, according to new comScore qSearch data. In particular, total core searches conducted on Microsoft sites (primarily representing the Bing search engine introduced earlier this year) dropped 10% between October and November 2010, from 2.3 billion to a little more than 2 billion.

Google Retains Total Core Search Dominance

Americans conducted nearly 17.8 billion total core search queries in November 2010, down 4% month-over-month from 18.4 billion in October 2010. Google sites ranked first with 11.4 billion searches (-4% from October 2010) followed by Yahoo sites with 3.4 billion. By remaining virtually flat, Yahoo was the only one of the top five total core search query providers to avoid losing core search queries from the prior month.

In terms of core search market share, little changed from October 2010. Google remained on top with flat performance of 64.8%. Yahoo grew its share about 4%, from 18.5% to 19.3%. Number three Microsoft lost more than 6% of its share, dropping from 12.1% to 11.3%.
comScore also tracks market share in terms of “powered by” search. Google’s “powered by” share is composed of searches conducted at Google entities, as well as branded searches at AOL and Ask. Bing’s “powered by” share is composed of searches conducted at Microsoft entities as well as branded Yahoo! entities.

In November 2010, 69.2% of searches carried organic search results from Google, while 24% of searches were powered by Bing organic results.

Microsoft Slightly Gains Explicit Core Search Share

Although Microsoft saw its total number of explicit core searches drop 2% month-over-month, from 1.9 billion to 1.88 billion, Microsoft’s explicit core search market share improved more than 2%, from 11.5% to 11.8%.

Otherwise, Google sites led the US explicit core search market in November 2010 with 66.2% market share, followed by Yahoo sites with 16.4% and Microsoft sites. Ask Network accounted for 3.6% of explicit core searches, followed by AOL LLC Network with 2%. Fluctuations were minimal.

Explicit Core Searches Drop 4%

More than 16 billion explicit core searches were conducted in November 2010, down 4% from October 2010. Google Sites ranked first with 10.6 billion searches (down 4%), followed by Yahoo sites in second with 2.6 billion (also down 4%) and Microsoft sites in third. Ask Network accounted for 580 million explicit core searches (down 3%), followed by AOL LLC Network with 327 million (down 5%).

Wealthy More Likely to Search for Varied Data

Wealthy Americans are more likely than middle- and lower-economic class Americans to conduct web searches for a variety of data, according a recent study by Pew Internet & American Life Project. On a given day, 40% of wealthy Americans research a product compared to 19% of other Americans, and 20% of wealthy Americans will search for a map, compared to 12% of other Americans.

When it comes to seeking health information online, once again the highest income bracket has the highest levels of engagement in areas including medical issues, treatment and facilities, doctors and test results; while the lowest income bracket has the lowest levels of engagement.

About the author

Mike Andrew has been working with the Internet and small business for over 12 years. Mike has been a keynote speaker at conventions and seminars and conducted social media training sessions all over the world. Mike has an extensive media background having worked in electronic media for over 30 years. Mike specialises in social media and Internet marketing strategy, SEO techniques and search engine marketing campaigns. His articles appear on numerous blogs around the web as well as national magazines.