The number of Internet Web searches conducted in the United States decreased by 6 percent from over 10  billion during January 2008 to 9.9 billion during the shorter month of February, with search giant Google extending its leading share of the search market from 58.5 percent to 59.2 percent, more than the four other top search engine sites combined, according to figures from Web traffic analysis company comScore announced Wednesday. Google Extends Search Lead To Nearly 60 Percent February saw search volume decreases of at least 5 percent for each of the top five search engine firms, accounting for 9.88 billion U.S. searches, a decrease of 6 percent from January's total of 10.49 billion total searches, according to Reston, Virginia-based comScore's core search marketplace analysis, which measures the five leading search engines including partner property and cross-channel searches. The comScore figures do not include searches for video sharing sites such as YouTube, local directory or mapping sites. December 2007 search volume had been 4 percent lower than November figures. Mountain View, California-based Google alone accounted for 5.85 billion of these total core searches during February, down 5 percent over its January tally of 6.13 billion searches. Google increased its share of the core search marketplace by 0.7 percent during February, up from 58.5 percent in January to 59.2 percent in February, according to comScore, continuing a climb nearing the 60 percent mark. Shares of Google stock were up $1.55, or 0.36 percent, to $433.55 during Thursday trading. Numbers Fall As Yahoo Remains in Second Spot Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo, presently struggling to fend off a hostile takeover bid from Microsoft,  continued to hold the number two overall core search ranking during February, with its sites combining to represent 21.6 percent of all searches, a decrease from the 22.2 percent it saw during January. Yahoo saw an 8 percent decrease in the number of searches performed on its sites during February, totaling 2.13 billion, down from 2.33 billion during February, according to the comScore figures. A MarketingCharts graph, shown below, compares comScore's January and February 2008 core search engine figures.  Shares of Yahoo stock were up $0.59, or 2.18 percent, to $27.66 during Thursday trading. Microsoft Remains In Number Three Position Redmond, California-based Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, saw its search sites remaining in the number three spot during February. Overall February traffic to Microsoft's search sites decreased 7 percent to 953 million searches, down from 1.03 billion during January. Microsoft announced late last week that it had signed an agreement to purchase privately held San Francisco-based Internet advertising management firm Rapt, as it looked to strengthen its online advertising services in the wake of search leader Google, which had itself recently finalized its $3.1 billion purchase of Web ad firm DoubleClick. Shares of Microsoft stock were up $0.56, or 1.96 percent, to $29.18 during Thursday trading.  AOL Keeps Fourth Spot Time Warner's AOL LLC kept the fourth position on the overall comScore list, with 4.9 percent of the search  market, the same share it held during January. AOL experienced the smallest drop in total February searches among the top five search engine firms, experiencing a 5 percent decrease from the 518 million searches comScore noted for it during January. During February AOL had 488 million total searches, a decrease of 22 million searches generally regarded by analysts as being the result of the shorter month. ComScore said it considers February a "seasonally soft" month for search activity, which may also account for the lower total search figures seen among all five top search engine sites. Shares of parent company Time Warner stock were down $0.23, or 1.6 percent, to $14.18 during Thursday trading.  Ask.com Fifth Most Popular Search Engine During February Ask.com held 4.6 percent of the search market, which made it the fifth most popular search engine, a modest 0.1 percent gain from the 4.5 percent share it held during January. Ask.com saw 25 million fewer total searches during February, falling 5 percent, from 475 million January searches to 450 million last month. Shares of parent company IAC (InterActiveCorp) were up $0.80, or 3.94 percent, to $21.1 during Thursday trading.  January Web Searches Rise, Led by Google Results from comScore's expanded February search engine analysis measure more than the top five search engine firms, additionally ranking the top 50 global Web properties that U.S. searchers use, including searches for maps, videos and products for purchase. These expanded comScore results show that of 13.8 billion total searches, Google's collection of sites garnered 7.39 billion, a 4 percent decrease from January figures. Google's YouTube video sharing  site and other Web properties saw share figures fall by 5 percent during February, while its core search engine site fell 4 percent. Yahoo sites ranked second during February with 2.26 billion searches, an 8 percent decrease from January figures. Microsoft sites ranked third with 984 million searches, a decrease of 7 percent from the 1.06 billion searches recorded during January. AOL LLC properties accounted for 864 million searches during February, a decrease of 4 percent from January figures showing 904 million searches. eBay occupied the fifth spot of comScore's expanded search list, jumping ahead of Ask.com since last month, with 480 million searches, a 3 percent increase from January's 467 million recorded searches. Ask's network of sites dropped to sixth in overall expanded worldwide comScore results, combining to account for 452 million searches, down 5 percent from January. Its MyWebSearch.com and other non-primary search properties were down 12 percent in February, while it's primary Ask.com search engine saw a smaller drop of only 1 percent from January figures. Fox Interactive Media's network, including social networking site MySpace, held the seventh position during February with 337 million searches, down 12 percent from January's 384 million searches. Reaction To comScore Data Global comScore data for February showed Google's search share declining slightly from 63.1 percent in January to 62.8 percent. The global data also showed a total of 67.4 billion searches, down from 71.9 billion  during January. Members of the online discussion forums operated by WebmasterWorld, a community of webmasters and search engine marketing (SEM) professionals founded by chief executive Brett Tabke, had primarily positive reaction to the February comScore global data. "A decline of .3 worldwide search share doesn't even seem statistically significant," wrote a WebmasterWorld member using the handle "Sharpseo." "The Russian and Chinese search markets are exploding," wrote another member using the handle "nomis5." "The Russian and Chinese search engines at the moment resemble those of the US and UK in their infancy," the member added. A WebmasterWorld member using the handle "grelmar" see the possibility of a more experienced type of searcher affecting search figures. "Newer surfers and the not-yet savvy have to do multiple searches to get the one page they want. More seasoned surfers know exactly what to type in to the search box to get the page they want on the first try," the member wrote. "This is a case of people 'learning' [search] engine behavior rather than the other way around. This can vastly increase search efficiency, and greatly reduces the amount of traffic an engine gets," the member added. Strong Annual Search Growth Online classified advertisement community Craigslist.org held the eighth position during February, with 239 million searches, down 7 percent from January, followed by Amazon Web sites with 139 million searches, down 17 percent since last month, and social networking site Facebook with 103 million searches, a decrease of 6 percent from January. Amazon's figure represents a decrease of 17.7 percent from January, the largest among the top ten search firms in the expanded comScore listing, and coming on the heels of a 22.2 drop between December 2007 and January 2008 figures. The February, 2008 search engine report released Wednesday by comScore, a top online audience measuring firm along with rival Nielsen Online, showed that even if Microsoft were to successfully acquire Yahoo, the new firm's share of the expanded search marketplace, at 3.24 billion searches, would still trail well behind Google's leading 7.39 billion. Google Tops February comScore Search Figures Related Links:
| 
10:38 pm on Mar. 20, 2008 (utc 0)