Microsoft Bing gains traction as Google stretches lead

by Steven Mostyn - Aug 2 2011, 06:18

Evidently Microsoft's recent search-based partnership with Internet pioneer Yahoo is paying off where user traffic is concerned. Moreover, the latest U.S. market share figures from comScore suggest the American software behemoth's Bing platform is gradually gaining traction.

Although Google remains the world's leading destination for Web search, comScore reports that Bing pulled in usage figures of 14.1 percent during July, which is a month-on-month improvement of 3.1 percent when compared to June.

The search platform's shift in popularity has likely come as a consequence of Microsoft's high-profile deal with Yahoo, which now pushes search queries from all Yahoo websites directly onto Bing as opposed to Google.

Yahoo's own share in the search market is diminishing however, with July's 15.9 percent equating to a 3.0 percent drop when compared to the same period in 2010.

Microsoft's gains will need to continue gathering momentum if the Redmond-based giant hopes to seriously impact Google's market dominance, which improved by 4.6 percent in July to 65.5 percent.

“For most people, Google is search—they go to Google without even thinking about it,” commented Brian MacDonald of Microsoft's Core Search Program Management team. “We've got to develop our own habits of people trying Bing.”

Globally, Google's share stands at an even more daunting 83 percent, while Bing only accounts for a mere 3.76 percent (NetApplications).

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