by Search Copywriter
D. Warburton
D. Warburton
The latest figures from comScore reveal that both Google and Microsoft are inching ahead in the US search engine rankings, with Yahoo! losing ground.Yahoo! is still holding on to second place, but its drop from 18.8 per cent in September to 18 per cent in October spells trouble for the company, despite previous news that its third quarter profits had exceeded expectations.
Microsoft's decision engine Bing rose from 9.4 to 9.9 per cent last month, as the Silicon Valley giant unveiled new social networking features, but still leader of the pack is Google, which achieved a 65.4 per cent market share - up from 64.9 per cent in September.
While the differences may seem minor from a month-on-month perspective, it is notable that both Google and Bing enjoyed a 0.5 per cent increase in market share - a figure that is proportionally more significant for Microsoft - while Yahoo!'s share fell by a larger 0.8 per cent.
Speaking to Computerworld, Technology Business Research analyst Ezra Gottheil believes that Bing has now firmly established its position in the search engine field. He states: "If Bing innovates effectively, it can move forward. It's in a not bad position, considering Google's momentum, but there's nothing happening now to show that it can take share from Google.
"With Google, it's not so much about growth any more, but the large number of people for whom Google is the search engine. Google is an ocean liner. It's going to take a lot of effort and a lot time to slow it down."
Concerning Yahoo!'s decline, Mr Gottheil is unsympathetic. "Yahoo's search engine now is a lame duck.
"Yahoo has been on a long-term decline. The battle between Bing and Google raises awareness about search engine capabilities, and may drive some users to try other products, but basically, Yahoo has not given its search engine users a good reason to stay."
With attempts to maintain its competitiveness evidently not working as successfully as hoped, it seems that Yahoo!'s future will be determined by finalising its search deal with Microsoft in 2010.
