Core Searches Grow 3%
Americans conducted 15.93 billion core searches in May 2010, a 3% increase from 15.53 billion in April 2010, according to comScore qSearch data.
Core Search Trends Similar to April
Core search results from May 2010 show the same basic trends observed in April 2010. Google Sites led the US core search market in May with 63.7% of the searches conducted, down 0.7 percentage points from 64.4% in April. Meanwhile, Yahoo Sites maintained the number two spot with 18.3% of all core searches, up 0.6 percentage points from 17.7% from the previous month. Microsoft sites remained in third place with 12.1% of all core searches, a 0.3 percentage point boost from 11.8% in April.
For the second straight month, Ask Network and AOL LLC saw their market share remain virtually unchanged as they placed fourth and fifth.
In April 2010, Google Sites’ core search market share declined from 65.1% to 64.7%, while Yahoo Sites rose from 16.9% to 17.7% and Microsoft Sites remained virtually flat, edging up from 11.7% to 11.8%.
All Leading Engines Gain Core Searches Except AOL
Every one of the top five core search engines increased its total number of core searches between April and May 2010, except fifth-place AOL LLC. Google Sites grew its number 2%, from 10 billion to 10.16 billion, while Yahoo Sites increased its core searches 6%, from 2.75 billion to 2.91 billion.
Meanwhile, third place Microsoft Sites saw its total number of core searches rise 6%, from 1.83 billion to 1.93 billion, and fourth place Ask Network had a mild 1% improvement, going from 574 million to 577 million core searches. AOL LLC lost 3% of its total core searches, dropping from 371 million to 361 million.
Amazon Gains, Facebook Loses Queries
In the May 2010 analysis of the top properties where search activity is observed, Google Sites led the search market with 14.4 billion search queries, followed by Yahoo Sites with 3 billion queries and Microsoft Sites with 2 billion. Amazon Sites experienced substantial growth during the month with a 14% increase to 280 million searches.
Facebook.com, which has experienced dramatic search query growth in recent months, including 48% in March 2010, saw its search queries drop 4% in April 2010. That trend continued in May 2010, with search queries falling another 2%, from 624 million to 609 million.