Americans conducted 12.6 billion core searches in October 2008 - up 7% from September - while Google Sites maintained its top position accounting for nearly two-thirds of all core* searches conducted, according to the monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the US search marketplace.

US Core Search Rankings - October

Google Sites led the US core search market in October with 63.1% of searches conducted, up 0.2 percentage points from September, followed by Yahoo Sites (20.5%), Microsoft Sites (8.5%), Ask Network (4.2%), and AOL LLC (3.7%).

Of the 12.6 billion searches conducted at the core search engines, Google Sites handled 8 billion core searches (up 7%), followed by Yahoo Sites with 2.6 billion (up 9%) and Microsoft Sites with 1.1 billion (up 8%).

US Expanded Search Rankings - October

In the October 2008 analysis of the top properties where search activity is observed, comscore reported that Google Sites also led in October, with 10.8 billion searches, a 6% increase vs. September. Yahoo Sites ranked second with 2.7 billion searches, followed by Microsoft Sites with 1.1 billion and AOL LLC with 770 million.

* Core search data is based on the five major search engines, including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.