Last month, Nielsen/NetRatings had Google hitting the 50 percent mark of percentage of searches handled in the United States (when rounded up from 49.8%). This month, Google slips back down very slightly to 49 percent. I've warned before that you should be wary of month-to-month changes. That said, here's the rundown, which gives Yahoo a percentage gain to Google's loss:
| Search Engine | April 2006 | May 2006 |
| 49.8% | 49.1% | |
| Yahoo | 21.9% | 22.9% |
| MSN | 10.7% | 10.6% |
More from the full release at the end of this post. Meanwhile, we already had May 2006 stats from Hitwise, so how do the two compare?
| May 2006 | Hitwise | NetRatings |
| 59% | 49% | |
| Yahoo | 22% | 23% |
| MSN | 12% | 11% |
comScore's May 2006 search query stats haven't yet been publicly released. Watch for them in a future post. Past NetRatings and comScore figures are here:
Yes, I'm working on getting the most recent stats added to those pages. Here's the full NetRatings release:
www.nielsen-netratings.comNielsen//NetRatings today released May 2006 U.S. MegaView Search findings, including top search providers, ranked by total searches. Searches represent the total number of queries conducted at the Provider.
Table 1: Top 10 Search Providers for May 2006, Ranked by Searches (U.S.) Please view in a fixed-width font such as Courier.
+-----------------------+-----------+------------+-------------------+ | Provider | Searches | YOY Growth | Share of Searches | | | (000) | | | +-----------------------+-----------+------------+-------------------+ | Google Search | 2,783,169 | 32% | 49.1% | | Yahoo! Search | 1,298,915 | 34% | 22.9% | | MSN Search | 600,820 | 42% | 10.6% | | AOL Search | 363,431 | N/A | 6.4% | | Ask.com Search | 146,585 | 69% | 2.6% | | My Way Search | 129,270 | 67% | 2.3% | | iWon Search | 32,257 | 53% | 0.6% | | Dogpile.com Search | 29,416 | -25% | 0.5% | | EarthLink Search | 27,488 | -1% | 0.5% | | SBC Yellow Pages | 24,513 | -21% | 0.4% | +-----------------------+-----------+------------+-------------------+Source: Nielsen//NetRatings MegaView Search, June 2006
Note: Due to a methodology change, year-over-year growth for AOL Search is unavailable.
Example: An estimated 2.8 billion search queries were conducted at Google Search, representing 49 percent of all search queries conducted during the given time period.
About Nielsen//NetRatings
NetRatings, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTRT) delivers leading Internet media and market research solutions, marketed globally under the Nielsen//NetRatings brand. With high quality, technology-driven products and services, Nielsen//NetRatings is the global standard for Internet audience measurement and premier source for online advertising intelligence, enabling clients to make informed business decisions regarding their Internet and digital strategies. The Nielsen//NetRatings portfolio includes panel-based and site-centric Internet audience measurement services, online advertising intelligence, user lifestyle and demographic data, e-commerce and transaction metrics, and custom data, research and analysis. For more information, please visit
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