Google losing out worldwide

Share of search market dipping

25 March 2008 9:43 GMT / By Katie Scott

It may be gaining popularity in the US, but figures for last month show that Google may be losing its sway in the worldwide search arena - although still remains the strongest in the market.

Analyst comScore revealed that Google's share of the worldwide market for web search was 62.8% in February, as compared to 63.1% the month before.

A comScore spokesperson did point out that February is a short month but other analysts have pointed to that fact that the market may have now "matured", which would mean that the boom is over as people get bored of searching, and may indeed look to other sites instead of Google.

As evidence - the volume of US searches done through Google dropped to 5.86 billion from 6.14 billion in February, but the worldwide volume of searches also declined.

Analysts are now going to concentrate on whether Google can take advantage of its dominance in the search market and tie in targeted advertising.

comScore is expected to release information on the number of web search ads viewed in February but this data will go to its clients only.

Analysts are also asking whether any rivals will appear to take on Google's dominance? And they are watching intently what will happen to Yahoo as it continues to fight off Microsoft's advances.

Yahoo and Microsoft are currently the number two and three in the US search market.