Updated Search Market Share

In class last week we discussed the different search engines and their market shares in the U.S. and around the world. Prof. Kagan admitted that many of these numbers are now outdated. Here are the most recent market share estimates for search engines as of May 2012. These numbers are based on the number of search queries conducted, not including mobile.

This chart may not be as pretty as the one in the slides with the hot-air balloons, but you get the idea.

A key takeaway from this is that in one year, Bing has overtaken Yahoo to gain the #2 spot behind Google. The ironic thing about this is that Microsoft's Bing powers Yahoo's organic search results. I think this is a testament to the fact that a search engine is no longer just a search engine. Yes, users are looking for the fastest and most accurate results. But as we saw in class, search engines such as Google and Bing have long realized that incorporating things like social and location-based services makes search a richer experience for the user. User experience and design are very important, and ultimately help to keep users coming back.

It's no wonder then, that Google is the gold standard for search advertising. Advertisers want to be where the eyes are, and Google has the majority of the eyes. But I wonder what the demographics of the users are like for certain search engines - are Yahoo users older or younger than Bing users? Are Google users more likely to be searching from an Apple device than Yahoo users? It might be advantageous to advertisers to diversify their ads and go where their target market is. Let me know if you find an answer.

Source: SearchEngineLand.com