CHART CLOSE-UP FROM THE STORY:
Google Sets New High with 66% of US Searches in December »
scroll down to read the full story

Google Sets New High with 66% of US Searches in December

Google accounted for 65.98% of all US searches in the four weeks ended Dec. 29, 2007 - its highest share ever and 7% more than in the year-earlier period, according to data from Hitwise. In 2007, Google’s share of US searches averaged 64%, Hitwise said.

Yahoo Search, MSN Search and Ask.com received 20.88%, 7.04% and 4.14%, respectively, of US searches, according to Hitwise, a subsidiary of Experian.

The remaining 49 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.71% of US searches.

Google Growing as Source of Traffic to Key Industries

Search engines continue to be the primary way internet users navigate to key industry categories.

From Dec. 2006 to Dec. 2007, the Travel, Entertainment, Business and Finance, and Sports categories registered double-digit increases in their share of traffic coming directly from search engines.