Google Keeps Commanding Search Lead

Latest numbers from Nielsen/NetRatings show Google leading Feb. 2006 searches with nearly half of the total pie.

In news that should surprise no one by now, Google again dominated the total Web searches pie for February, according to new figures released yesterday from Nielsen/NetRatings. Tailing in a distant second was Yahoo!.

Google, said Nielsen/NetRatings, accounted for 48.5 percent of all searches conducted during the month of February. This is up only slightly from their total search market share in January. Yahoo! came in second with 22.2 percent, followed by MSN Search at 11 percent.

Other interesting facts from these latest numbers show overall the total number of searches increased 38 percent, from 3.8 billion in February 2005 to 5.3 billion in February 2006. Nielsen/NetRatings attributed this to an increased number of searches per person, particularly in the image search and shopping search categories.

“While the number of unique searchers in the U.S. over the past year has remained relatively stable, we see search usage intensity increasing, not only in the number of searches done per person for general Web content, but also for searches initiated specifically for photos and graphics, as well as for comparison shopping information,” said Michael Lanz, vice president, search industry solutions, Nielsen//NetRatings, in a statement.