Bing takes search share from Google

Bing has started to take some search share from Google.

Yahoo has dropped from 20.1% in May to 19.3% in August. Google has dropped from a 65% share in May to 64.6% in August, which is only half of the market share loss experienced by Yahoo.

Microsoft, which started at an 8% share in May has increased to a 9.3% share in August according to the latest comScore search engine rankings.

The question remains to be seen if Bing's market share is from the advertising initiative and "I have to try it" factor, or if it's from actual customer satisfaction. If Bing's success is customer satisfaction then they will easily have a double digit share of the search market before the year is out. Satisfied customers tend to give great word of mouth advertising, which can only help Bing in the long run.

If Google continues to lose their market share at the same pace, while Bing grows at this pace, Bing should overcome Google around August of 2020. We'll be watching. (yes, we're aware this is faulty math)

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Bing Gains Ground - Sorry Yahoo

Google has held the lion's share of search volume for years now and it continues to grow. July numbers from StatCounter put the volume in the range of 77%. Yahoo follows with 11% and Bing is up a percent to 9.4%.

It would appear that Microsoft's huge advertising blitz (and a much improved product) have given them an upward growth curve. They're up 1.4% at the expense of Yahoo, which is down a percent.

The share of search dollars spent is also shifting up for Google, according to J.P. Morgan stats. Google captured about 72% of search dollars in the 2nd quarter of 2009. That's up almost 2% compared to the same time in 2008 - and the change is almost entirely at Yahoo's expense.

Mobile Search

The most surprising numbers come in the area of mobile search where Yahoo is strong at 34% of the the search market in the U.S. Google holds about 63% of the market, according to ComScore data.

Display Advertising

Where does Yahoo still outperform the others? Display advertising.

Yahoo controls 13% of the display ad views on content-network sites. Microsoft and Google lag behind at 5.5% and 1.3% respectively.

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Yahoo and Microsoft Back To The Table?

It appears that Yahoo and Microsoft are back to the table talking about a search partnership. The talks appear bereft of discussion for a takeover and the general news surrounding both companies appear to support the death of any takeover bid.

Yahoo's new CEO, Carol Bartz, has joined ranks after the multiple takeover bids and doesn't appear to display any of the baggage from the multiple battles between the two companies in 2008. Microsoft appears to be moving on with their new search engine development (internal name Kumo).

What does it mean for the search world?

From our Search Engine Marketing perspective, we are happy to see Microsoft and Yahoo speaking in terms of combating Google's huge market share (multiple sources put them around 63%). Whether or not they can actually perform in this arena is questionable but we prefer they state that they will attempt to do so...

Until then, track your PPC numbers closely and diversify where you are able.

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Yahoo Looking For Love

Yahoo is stuck right between a rock and the hard place. Their stock prices, market share and respect are sinking. Meanwhile Microsoft stopped courting the princess...

Floundering In The Search Pool

The First Scribe team has been unhappy with Yahoo search for a few years. We feel their search technology is weak and ROI from Yahoo falls well behind other traffic sources.

Obviously, we were happy to watch as Microsoft made moves to acquire Yahoo in late 2007 and early 2008. Those efforts failed so now Microsoft appears to be standing by, waiting for Yahoo to drown before they swoop in for a last-minute, white-knight maneuver.

Venture capitalist Todd Dagres of Spark Capital likened this approach to that of a crocodile. "Rather than try to eat its prey while it's warm and tough, (Microsoft is) dragging it down to the bottom of the river, sticking it under a rock and eating it later when it's cold and soft," he said.

What does this all mean to us?

All we can do is speculate but we've heard a few rumors that could greatly change the picture if they bear fruit:

• Yahoo to hand over ad space to Google
• While this will probably equate to better PPC ROI, it will certainly harm Yahoo's already poor standing with advertisers.
  
• Yahoo to merge with AOL
• AOL is also facing difficult times. A merger between Yahoo and AOL could create a significant force.
• A healthy merger creates a new way to target demographics missed by Google.

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