Google beats Yahoo, Microsoft in search

Continuing its dominance in the online search market, Google increased its share of US Internet search traffic drawing 61.6 per cent of all queries in April compared with 59.8 per cent in March, according to researcher ComScore.

Interestingly, Yahoo and Microsoft saw their queries and market share drop in April, not a hunky-dory scenario for them given that search advertising accounts for about 41 per cent of US online advertising.

While Yahoo fielded 20.4 per cent of searches, down from 21.3 per cent, Microsoft's share came down to 9.1 per cent from 9.4 per cent.

With this lead in Internet search traffic, Google can charge more for advertisements displayed next to query results.

Google's ad fees per search were as much as 70 per cent higher than Yahoo's at the end of last year. Yahoo and Microsoft combined share of the Internet search market has fallen below 30 per cent.

This raises questions about whether Microsoft's failed attempt to acquire Yahoo for $33 per share would have been worth it.

Obviously ComScore data shows the utter failures of both Microsoft and Yahoo to beat Google in search. And these figures put Google in the limelight as it is committed to remain dominant in the search market and thereby increase revenue and profits.