Yahoo (YHOO) Loses, (MSFT) (GOOG) Gain Search Share

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) gained search share in March, according to ComScore Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR), as did Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bing, while Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) again lost share.

Search share for Google climbed to 65.7 percent in March, up from $65.4 percent in February. Bing's share jumped to 13.9 percent, increasing from 13.6 percent the month before. Yahoo's share fell from 16.1 percent in February to 15.7 percent in March.

It's hard to tell if this is in response to some changes Google made in improve the relevance of its results, which affected about 12 percent of search result queries.

Google was trading at $574.44, gaining $3.83, or 0.67 percent, as of 2:28 PM EDT. Microsoft was trading at $25.71, gaining $0.07, or 0.27 percent. Yahoo was at $16.60, up $0.24, or 1.47 percent.

Yahoo's (YHOO) Ad Market Share Plunging to Single-Digits

The free fall continues for Yahoo's (NASDAQ:YHOO) search ad market, as researcher eMarketer release more dismal news on the future of the company in that regard, as they see it dropping to below single digits in 2011, with an estimated 8.1 percent in market share.

During that time Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) ad search share is projected to grow from 71.4 percent to 75.2 percent, and Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bing from 10.2 percent to 10.8 percent. Yahoo had search share of 10.4 percent in 2010.

Also ominous for Yahoo is the search ad share for 2012, which eMarketer says will plummet to a tiny 6.5 percent, with Bing growing to 11.1 percent and Google to 76.6 percent.

It appears the implementation of Search Direct by Yahoo may be too little too late if eMarketer is even half right on the loss of share they expect from Yahoo.

Yahoo was trading at $16.80, gaining $0.67, or 4.12 percent, as of 2:33 PM EDT.

Bing (MSFT) Gains, Google (GOOG) Falls in Search Market Share Says ComScore

ComScore confirmed recent results from HitWise that Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bing search engine (including Yahoo), gained market share over Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the U.S.

Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) is powered by Bing, although it didn't gain share in February, according to ComScore.

Google dropped from 65.6 percent share in January to 65.4 percent in February, while Bing moved up to 13.6 percent share. Yahoo remained at 16.1 percent. Hitwise had the market share of Bing higher for February, gaining over a percentage point when combined with Yahoo.

Google was trading at $576.17, down $4.13, or 0.71 percent, as of 12:00 PM EST. Microsoft was at $25.53, gaining $0.12, or 0.47 percent. Yahoo was trading at $17.31, up $0.25, or 1.47 percent.

Microsoft's (MSFT) Bing Gains Again on Google (GOOG)

While it isn't exactly putting fear into Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), the gradual gain in search market share by Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bing into Google search is something they're going to start paying attention to, as Bing increased in share from January to February from 27.44 percent to 28.48 percent, according to data from Hitwise.

This is a combination of Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Bing search results, as Yahoo! is powered by Bing.

Google still has a 66.9 percent market share in the United States.

Microsoft closed Thursday at $25.41, down $0.48, or 1.85 percent. Google closed at $580.30, down $11.47, or 1.94 percent. Yahoo closed at $17.06, down $0.59, or 3.34.

Microsoft (MSFT) Becoming a Browser, Search Gorilla?

It seems just when everyone is about to count Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) out, they do just enough to show they still have some spark left deep in them, like they did at the end of 2010 with Kinect.

Now it seems like they are doing it again with the upcoming release of its Internet Explorer 9 and Bing search redesign, which is increasingly thought of as a legitimate alternative to Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) search. March 15 has been put forth as the probably release date for the products.

"Internet Explorer 9 and the redesigned Bing are inextricably linked, both in function and in the marketing-speak that is being used to introduce them. For obvious business reasons, Microsoft wants to ensure that any user of one is inclined to use the other. To further complicate matters, the new products also depend on HTML5, the updated standard for Web display, for maximum impact," says Minyanville.

"...Both products are faster and are visually stripped down, so that the user can focus on content rather than functionality. But the changes to Bing are dramatic - at least in video previews - that can utilize all the bells and whistles of IE9 and HTML5.

"The new Bing doesn’t look like anybody else’s search engine. It looks like a pretty slick multimedia magazine, created on demand for an audience of one, with the top-ranked result as the “lead story.” Other related choices are grouped into sections along the side, and other media, like videos and images, are accessible in one click from tabs along the top."

Microsoft was trading at $25.89, up $0.17, or 0.64 percent, as of 1:52 PM EST.




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Microsoft (MSFT) Partners with The Dealmap for Mobile, Social Shopping

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced it has entered into a partnership with The Dealmap, a local and national aggregator of deals. This should give the tech giant a chance to use its Bing search share to provide vendors with larger audiences.

Bing will reach those using desktop computers and mobile devices with advertising deals from a variety of companies.

The Dealmap aggregates deals from almost 300 local businesses, national companies and other shopping sites. Those include Groupon and competitor Living Social Inc., as well as Restaurants.com.

Microsoft said they are looking for more deals like this and could expand into similar partnerships in the future.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) Gain Search Share on Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Confirming recent results from Experian Hitwise, Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bing and Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) search gained ground on Google Search (NASDAQ:GOOG) from December to January, according to research firm comScore.

Bing climbed the most against Google, rising to 13.1 percent of search share in the U.S. market. Yahoo's share rose to 16.1 percent, up from 16.0 percent in December.

During that same period Google fell from 66.6 percent in December to 65.6 percent in January.

The combination of the Bing and Yahoo search were 27.4 percent, according to Experian Hitwise. While comScore doesn't combine the two search companies together, they came in at 28.3 percent of U.S. search share, over a percentage point above Experian Hitwise's figures.

Google has a market share in January 2010 of 65.4 percent, Yahoo had 17 percent, and Microsoft 11.3 percent.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Readying India Launch of Bing, Windows Phone 7

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is preparing to officially launch its Bing search engine in the Indian market, as well as their Windows Phone 7.

Concerning Bing, Microsoft India (R&D) Managing Director Amit Chatterjee said, “It will not just be a search engine, but will be a decision making engine, promising different experience to users. It is sure to give a different digital experience to users.”

As to Windows Phone 7, a date hasn't been set. “The date has not yet been finalized, but the product is sure to hit the market later this year,” added Chatterjee.

The company is working on adding to its relatively small application based to garner more desirability for the phone, which has been received positively on its own.

Approximately 100 new apps are being added to the App store on a daily basis.

Microsoft closed Wednesday at $27.97, down $0.31, or 1.10 percent.

Bing (NASDAQ:MSFT) Becoming Serious Threat to Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Search

As Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) continues to expands it product offerings in order to move away from too much dependence upon search revenue, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is starting to make some serious inroads into their search results.

According to Experian Hitwise, Microsoft search boosted its market share to 27.4 percent in January, a 6 percent increase from December. Those figures include the combination of Bing and Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) searches.

Concerning the quality of search results, Microsoft dominated Google, as 81 percent of those searches on Yahoo and Bing resulted in someone going to a Website, while Google stood at 65 percent of searches resulting in a visit.

ComScore has yet to release their January data, which will be interesting to see if they saw the gains for Microsoft as well.

If Microsoft breaks the psychological 30 percent market share barrier, Google will have to take note, as it could seriously cut into their search ad revenue.

Microsoft's (Nasdaq:MSFT) Bing Grows Search Share in November Says JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM)

Citing ComScore's November search share data, JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) analyst Imran Khan said Microsoft's (Nasdaq:MSFT) Bing increased search share for November, while Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) and Yahoo (Nasdaq:YHOO) lost search share slightly for the month.

Here's Khan's summary:

"According to the data, total US explicit core search volume increased 11.5% Y/Y in November, a slight deceleration from 16.7% growth in October. In the first two months of 4Q, total explicit search volume grew 14.1% Y/Y vs 14.7% growth in 3Q.

"Google domestic explicit core search market share was 66.2% in November, down slightly from 66.3% in October. Google grew November explicit core search volume by 12.0% Y/Y, a deceleration from 17.8% Y/Y growth in October. In the first 2 months of 4Q, Google grew explicit search by 14.9% Y/Y vs. 16.3% growth in 3Q.

"Yahoo! domestic explicit core search market share decreased to 16.4% in November from 16.5% in October. Yahoo! grew November explicit core search volume by 4.1% Y/Y, down from 6.8% Y/Y growth in October. In the first 2 months of 4Q, explicit searches grew 5.4% Y/Y vs. 2.4% growth in 3Q.

"Microsoft sites’ domestic explicit core search market share grew to 11.8% in November from 11.5% in October. Microsoft sites grew November explicit core search volume by 31.3% Y/Y, down from 40.9% Y/Y growth in October. In the first 2 months of 4Q, explicit searches grew 36.0% Y/Y vs. 40.4% growth in 3Q."

Ask Network's domestic search share remained at 3.6 percent and AOL's dropped from 2.1 percent in October to 2 percent in November.

Microsoft was trading at $27.77, up $0.15, or 0.54 percent, as of 1:55 PM EST. Google was at $592.30, down $2.57, or 0.44 percent. Yahoo was trading at $16.48, down $0.15, or 0.90 percent.

Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) Search Driven by Travel, Finance, and Retail Verticals

Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) search continues to perform strongly, led by travel, finance, and retail verticals.

According to comScore, Google gained market share, now accounting for 66.3 percent of domestic search. Microsoft's Bing also increased, while Yahoo's search fell.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) noted, "comScore's October search data out yesterday indicates that Google gained 20 bps of share M/M, while Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) lost 30 bps M/M and Bing (Nasdaq:MSFT) gained - 40 bps. This is the first full month of share data since Google Instant went live and the second straight monthly share gain for Google. Google's domestic query share is now 66.3% and query growth aecelerated slightly to +17.8% Y/Y, Yahoo!'s share is now at 16.5% as query growth reaccelerated to +6.8% Y/Y, and Bing's share is 11.5% as queries reaccelerated slightly to +40.9% Y/Y. Our checks indicate that the domestic search market continues to perform well with particular strength across Travel, Finance, and Retail verticals. With the recent weakness in Google shares-down 7% since its recent high on 11/08 vs. the S&P -4%- we reiterate our Overweight rating on what we believe is a strengthening search ad market into the holidays, continued growth in paid clicks, CPC growth, and solid share gains."

Google closed Thursday at $596.56, rising by $13.01, or 2.23 percent. Barclays maintains their "Overweight" rating on Google.