December 20th, 2006
Microsoft search gets lapped
Most bloggers are focused on Google's dominant search share (is it 50 percent or 70 percent), but what sticks out most is the free fall Microsoft is suffering through.
According to Nielsen/NetRatings, Google's November market share in search was 49.5 percent followed by Yahoo's 24.3 percent. No shocker there.
Now let's look at the year over year growth. Google's growth in search was 31 percent followed by Yahoo's 27 percent. Meanwhile, MSN/Windows Live Search fell 12 percent year over year to give Microsoft 8.2 percent of the search market.
In fact, AOL could sneak up on Microsoft's share. AOL grew 11 percent year over year to 6.2 percent market share. No other player in search had a double-digit percentage decline in growth.
So instead of going ga-ga over Google's dominance perhaps we should ask whether Microsoft is misallocating resources by focusing on search. It looks like its game over in the search department.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Smart Planet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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