Google nearing 50% market share in US internet searches

Google nearing 50% market share in US internet searches

Online searching is a growing market and as per available statistics, the number of searches on the Web in December surged by 55 percent. And as expected Google dominates this market and has in fact neared the 50% mark by gaining around 5.7 percent year-to-year market share.

As per a report released by Nielsen/NetRatings, the web surfers in the USA conducted 5.1 billion searches in the last month of 2005. This is a massive improvement from 3.3 billion searches in the same period the previous year. The number is significant, as the number of internet users in the country has not grown by much.

Nielsen/NetRatings analyst Ken Cassar said in a statement: “Consumers seem to increasingly see search as their starting point when they go online. Whether it’s out of laziness or ignorance, consumers’ starting point is very much search”. Google had a market share of 48.8 percent compared to 21.4 percent for Yahoo! and 14 percent for MSN Search.

Cassar added: “We’re seeing an improvement in relevancy and a dramatic improvement in the amount of content online.”