Search engine watch has printed December 2004 stats from comScore Media Metrix detailing the market share of the major search engines going into the new year.
Google continues to dominate, generating 48% of all search results either directly or by providing results to smaller search firms such as the Excite Network. Yahoo follows a distant second with 32%. The pre-proprietary MSN came in third with 16% with Ask following fourth at 2%.
Google still holds most of the market but it is down significantly from this period last year when it provided nearly 70% of search results across all engines.
Google is also losing ground when it comes to users choosing a search tool. According to comScore’s survey, 35% of all searches are conducted at Google. Yahoo is second with 32% of direct searches. MSN holds steady at 16%. AOL (which shows Google results) is in fourth with 9%, Excite in fifth with 4%, and Ask in sixth with 2%.
These numbers show that search users are turning towards Yahoo and MSN more today than they were last year. It is important to note that these numbers note searches conducted at any Google, Yahoo, MSN, or other’s property. A search at Gmail, for instance, would count towards Google’s score.
Distribution Share (% of time search is generated by a specific search engine)
Google: 48%
Yahoo: 32%
MSN: 16%
Ask: 2%
Others: 2%
User Share (% of searches conducted on a specific search engine or specific search engine network)
Google: 35%
Yahoo: 32%
MSN: 16%
AOL: 9%
Excite: 4%
Ask: 2%
Others: 2%