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AUSTIN, Texas - Mountain View, California-based Google continues to increase its dominance over rival Web  search companies Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask.com, with figures released today showing that its search engine was used for 64.49 percent of all searches conducted in the U.S. during October, nearly tripling the share of nearest rival Yahoo. Top Spot and Rising Google's 64.49 percent share is nearly one percent higher than in September, and over three and half percent greater than its figures from a year ago, according to decade old Internet traffic analysis company Hitwise, which today released information for a one month period of time ending on October 27, 2007. Australia-based Hitwise, a subsidiary of Experian Group Limited, tracks usage of Web sites and each month produces usage statistics,  including a report focusing on search engines, which continue to be the primary way Web users find their online destination, the company said. Hitwise samples about 10 million Internet users in the U.S. and 25 million worldwide, collecting and aggregating usage statistics. Google has held the top spot among search engines for so long that few expect monthly Web traffic data to show it suddenly falling to the number two position, yet it may be surprising to some how the search leader can continue to increase both the margin of its lead over rivals and its overall share of total searches performed. Ask.com Up, Yahoo and MSN Down The Hitwise October data shows Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo holding the number two position with a  21.65 percent share, which is a drop of nearly one percent from both the previous month and from October figures in 2006. An even larger drop was seen by third place Microsoft's MSN Search and Live.com, even when combined, with a 7.42 percent share compared to the 10.72 percent seen a year ago, a drop of 3.3 percent. Since September, Microsoft's search share has decreased by less than half a percent. According to the Hitwise data the fourth spot is held by Ask.com, which grew by a small amount during October and over the past year. Ask.com, which has increased its advertising campaigns in traditional media over the past year, held a 4.76 percent share of the search market in October, up nearly half a percent from both September data and October, 2006 figures. There has been speculation centered around a possible Microsoft purchase of Yahoo, a move which would, according to the Hitwise data, create a Google competitor with a combined search share of nearly thirty percent, still less than half that of the search leader. The Alternative Search Engines Hitwise data shows that even when the 49 lesser known search engines it tracks are combined, their total share of searches for October is less than two percent. This category includes alternative search engines such as user voting company Sproose, "human-powered" Mahalo and visual search engine Quintura, which all face a daunting task to reach even the fourth place search position held by Ask.com. The 49 small search engines which are lumped together in the Hitwise data include 64 Percent of U.S. Web Searches Used Google in October To those who operate Web sites the Hitwise figures largely parallel the breakdown of search engine traffic seen in the reports and analysis of specific sites. Members of the popular WebmasterWorld online discussion community known for its tech-savvy information, report recent Google search engine traffic figures ranging from 71 percent to as high as 90 percent. It is clear that Google continues to be the dominant search engine site used by Web searchers, and only time will tell whether Yahoo, MSN and Live.com, Ask.com or one of the lesser known search companies will someday grow to threaten Google's reign. Related Links:
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11:24 pm on Nov. 20, 2007 (utc 0)