Americans conducted 6.4 bln searches online in March 2006, up 10% from last month and 15% from 2004. The increase in search queries from the previous month marked the largest gain over the past twelve months. Google Sites led the pack with 2.7 bln search queries performed, followed by Yahoo Sites (1.8 bln), MSN-Microsoft (849,000), Time-Warner Network (486,000), and Ask Jeeves/Ask Network (376,000). The toolbar search market continues to be dominated by Google and Yahoo!, which combined for more than 95% of toolbar searches in March. Google led the way with 48.9%, while Yahoo! captured 46.5%. In March 2006, Google gained in search market share versus year ago for the eighth consecutive month and maintained its status as market leader with 42.7% of searches conducted on its sites. Yahoo! remained in second place with 28.0%, while MSN ranked third with 13.2%.
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US Internet search in March 2006 |
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| Mar-05 | Mar-06 | Growth | |
| 36.4 | 42.7 | 6.3 | |
| Yahoo! | 30.6 | 28.0 | -2.6 |
| MSN | 16.5 | 13.2 | -3.3 |
| Time Warner | 8.9 | 7.6 | -1.4 |
| Ask | 5.5 | 5.9 | 0.4 |
| Source: comScore | |||