Google Inc. extended its lead in U.S. search engine usage in April for the ninth consecutive month, while its four closest competitors all lost market share, comScore Networks Inc. said Monday.
Google handled 43.1 percent of searches conducted by U.S. residents in April, up from 36.5 percent in April 2005.
Yahoo Inc. followed with 28 percent, down from 30.7 percent. This translates to 2.9 billion searches for Google and 1.9 billion for Yahoo, a gap that has widened consistently for the past nine months.
Then came Microsoft Corp. with 12.9 percent, down from 16.1 percent, Time Warner Inc. with 6.9 percent, down from 9 percent, and IAC/InterActiveCorp's Ask.com with 5.8 percent, down from 6.1 percent.
Attracting users translates to advertising revenue for search engines such as Google and Yahoo, which serve up online ads along with search results. The search segment is the largest of the fast-growing online ad market, accounting for 41 percent of revenue. Online advertising spending grew 30 percent in 2005 to US$12.5 billion.
This is why Yahoo, Microsoft and others have invested heavily on their own search engines and search-based ad networks. However, despite their efforts to strengthen their positions, Google is fending off their challenge.
While it increases its dominance in the search engine space, Google is attempting to make inroads into the Web portal turf of Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN unit by offering services such as Web mail, blogging, photo sharing, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) reader, online calendar and instant messaging.
Most of Google's ad revenue comes from search engine-based ads, but the company has made no secrets about its plan to diversify its business into sales of display ads, such as banners, and multimedia ads, like those containing video and audio. These ads are more commonly found on Web portals.
Get the independent advice and expertise you need to support a virtual workforce.
The increase in Linux popularity has increased the frequency and sophistication of malware attacks. Read this 2 page white paper now to learn how you can protect your Linux environment with real-time protection that is certified by all major Linux vendors.
Download now »Ensuring acceptable application delivery will become even more difficult over the next few years. As a result, IT organizations need to ensure that the approach that they take to resolving the current application delivery challenges can scale to support the emerging challenges. This handbook elaborates on the key tasks associated with planning, optimization, management and control and provides decision criteria to help IT organizations choose appropriate solutions.
Download now »A common misconception is that mid-range storage requirements are dramatically different than that of a larger enterprise. Mid-range storage users may require less capacity, but they have similar functionality and management requirements. This ESG paper examines mid-range storage needs and reviews a new solution that adjusts size while retaining value, performance and functionality.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Data Management Resource Alerts
