Google extends search market lead

Google increased its search market share in April for the ninth consecutive month, consolidating its status as market leader with 43.1 per cent of all US searches conducted on its sites.

Data released yesterday by market research firm comScore Networks found that Yahoo remained in second place with 28 per cent of searches, while MSN ranked third with 12.9 per cent.

Americans conducted 6.6 billion online searches during April, up four per cent on the previous month, the research firm said.

Google sites led the pack with 2.9 billion search queries, followed by Yahoo with 1.9 billion, MSN/Microsoft with 858 million, Time-Warner Network with 457 million, and Ask Network with 384 million.

MySpace.com has been added to the search engine rankings for April, comScore said, coming in at sixth place with 43 million search queries, or 0.6 per cent share of the US market.

The research firm suggested that this smaller player may eventually be able to grab a substantial share of the search market due to its remarkable popularity.

Google and Yahoo continued their dominance among toolbar searches, garnering more than 95 per cent of the market share between them in April. Google grabbed 48 per cent of toolbar searches, and Yahoo 47.6 per cent.