In the 1990s, search was dominated by various companies like Yahoo, Infoseek and Lycos. Google emerged in the 2000s and effectively became the dominant search engine, with its market share growing over the decade. By the late 2000s, Microsoft launched its Bing search engine, which began gaining market share. While Google remained the leader, Bing saw its market share increase from 8.3% in January 2009 to 12.7% by July 2010 as it challenged Google's dominance of online search.

1. Problem Indentification:
In the 1990s, Google barely existed. If search were a religion, it was polytheistic. There were a variety of search
gods — Infoseek, Excite, Lycos and more. Yahoo was more powerful than the others, but it didn’t rule supreme.
In the 2000s, Google effectively swept aside those other gods. Search became monotheistic. Search become
Google. It literally became Google, as people began to commonly say they’d “googled” something rather than
searched for it.
Where will things go in the 2010s?
Well before proceeding further we should have a look what happened between these years because there is a
drastic change in internet usage worldwide between 2000 to 2010. According to Internetworldstats Inc. Internet
users was 360,985,492 in Dec, 2000 which is now increased to 1,966,514,816 and the growth rate is 444.8 %.
Simultaneously it has also affected the market share of search engines.
In 2003, Nielsen NetRatings Search Engine Ratings is Google 29.5%, Yahoo 28.9, MSN 27.6.
In 2004, according to Netapplications, Google is 43.05%, where as Yahoo 14.67%, and MSN is in 10.40%.
In 2005, according to Nielsen NetRatings MegaView Search,, Top search engines in 2005: Google is 47.1%, where
as Yahoo 21.2%, MSN – 12.8%.
In 2006, according to comScore, Google continues to increase its US market share, reaching to 48.7% followed by
Yahoo in 22.2% and MSN in 11.0%.
In 2007, Google Sites share of core searches stood at 58.6 percent, Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 22.4 percent,
followed by Microsoft Sites (9.8 percent).
In 2008, Google Sites led the U.S. core search market in 2008 with 63.1 percent of the searches conducted,
followed by Yahoo! Sites (20.5 percent), Microsoft Sites (8.5 percent).
Now 2009!
June, 2009 Microsoft have Launched their ultimate search engine “Bing”. Till now everything was fine and usual for
Google but 2009 is something different. Microsoft and Yahoo were always been rival for Google but in all honesty,
it may be time to consider Microsoft a threat.Yes, the company still only claims a small percentage of the market
and is still brand new, but it uses the computational search tool Wolfham Alpha to refine search results, something
Google still cannot effectively do.
I have reviewed the market share of all three search engines and one thing is clear that Google need not to be
think about Yahoo but Bing is really going to be a great threat for Google now onwards. Starting from Jan, 2009
when Bing was accessible though officially it wasn’t declared. Let’s see the figures:

2. January 2009 vs. December 2008
Source: comScore qSearch 2.0
Core Search Entity Share of Searches (%)
8-Dec 9-Jan Point Change
Jan-09 vs. Dec-08
Total Core Search 100 100 N/A
Google Sites 63.5 63 -0.5
Yahoo! Sites 20.5 21 0.5
Microsoft Sites 8.3 8.5 0.2
AOL LLC 3.8 3.9 0.1
Ask Network 3.9 3.7 -0.2
June 2009 vs. May 2009
Source: comScore qSearch
Core Search Entity Share of Searches (%)
9-May 9-Jun Point Change
Jun-09 vs. May-09
Total Core Search 100.00% 100.00% N/A
Google Sites 65.00% 65.00% 0
Yahoo! Sites 20.10% 19.60% -0.5
Microsoft Sites 8.00% 8.40% 0.4
Ask Network 3.90% 3.90% 0
AOL LLC 3.10% 3.10% 0
July 2009 vs. June 2009
Source: comScore qSearch
Core Search Entity Search Queries (MM)
9-Jun 9-Jul Point Change
Jul-09 vs. Jun-09
Total Core Search 100.00% 100.00% N/A
Google Sites 65.00% 64.70% -0.3
Yahoo! Sites 19.60% 19.30% -0.3
Microsoft Sites 8.40% 8.90% 0.5
Ask Network 3.90% 3.90% 0
AOL LLC Network 3.10% 3.10% 0
August 2009 vs. July 2009

3. Source: comScore qSearch
Core Search Entity Share of Searches (%)
9-Jul 9-Aug Point Change Aug-09
vs. Jul-09
Total Core Search 100.00% 100.00% N/A
Google Sites 64.70% 64.60% -0.1
Yahoo! Sites 19.30% 19.30% 0
Microsoft Sites 8.90% 9.30% 0.4
Ask Network 3.90% 3.90% 0
AOL LLC Network 3.10% 3.00% -0.1
Well may be as its initial stage of Bing thatswhy the growth rate is high due to marketing effects and again the
brand name of Microsoft creating the magic. Let’ see what’s happening after 1 year in 2010:
May 2010 vs. April 2010
Source: comScore qSearch
Core Search Entity Share of Searches (%)
10-Apr 10-May Point Change May-10
vs. Apr-10
Total Core Search 100.00% 100.00% N/A
Google Sites 64.40% 63.70% -0.7
Yahoo! Sites 17.70% 18.30% 0.6
Microsoft Sites 11.80% 12.10% 0.3
Ask Network 3.70% 3.60% -0.1
AOL LLC Network 2.40% 2.30% -0.1
June 2010 vs. May 2010
Source: comScore qSearch
Core Search Entity Share of Searches (%)
10-May 10-Jun Point Change Jun-10
vs. May-10
Total Core Search 100.00% 100.00% N/A
Google Sites 63.70% 62.60% -1.1
Yahoo! Sites 18.30% 18.90% 0.6
Microsoft Sites 12.10% 12.70% 0.6
Ask Network 3.60% 3.60% 0
AOL LLC Network 2.30% 2.20% -0.1

4. July 2010 vs. June 2010
Source: comScore qSearch
Core Search Entity Total Core Search Share (%)
10-Jun 10-Jul Point
Change
Total Core Search 100.00% 100.00% N/A
Google Sites 62.60% 61.60% -1
Yahoo! Sites 18.90% 20.10% 1.2
Microsoft Sites 12.70% 12.60% -0.1
Ask Network 3.60% 3.50% -0.1
AOL LLC Network 2.20% 2.20% 0
You have to consider the power behind Bing in the name of Microsoft. The company is willing to lose income for
the first several years as it keeps it eye on the leading spot. Keep in mind too that Yahoo! relies on Bing to power
its search, benefiting both companies in the face of Google.
Bing also has plenty of money behind it to keep at Google's heels. Microsoft's Steve Ballmer stated in 2008 that his
company is dedicating five years to building a better site.
“ The company told its shareholders recently that it was prepared to lose "5 to 10 percent of total operating income
for several years" to improve its position in search, Ballmer said.
Not for lack of trying has Microsoft been looking for a way into the search engine market. They have been trying to
build a presence in search since 2004. Hmm… its last pre-Bing effort was called Live Search; but that did not work
out so well. And despite extensive investments in time and money and technology, Microsoft’s share of all Internet
related searches fell eight points between 2004 and 2009. Most of the nearly $6 billion in losses that were racked
up by Microsoft’s online business division since 2006 have been related to search. So they are looking for any
foothold that will offer them an opportunity to succeed.
This may be coming as there is an expression that is now growing: “I Binged it.”
I use “Google It.” I’ll have to see if I can Bing it.