I have had a few people writing in asking why I spend so much time on strategies for ranking in Google versus the other search engines like Yahoo and MSN. The simple fact is, more people use Google so if you can figure out how their algorithms work it will drive a lot more traffic than any of the other players.

According to new ComScore numbers, perhaps the most respected index for reporting online market share, Google is widening its lead. Google is estimated to have a 55.2% market share while Yahoo slipped to 23.5%.

The other popular index to measure online search market share is Nielson/NetRatings. According to their most recent figures, Google is at 53.3%, Yahoo is at 20.1%, Microsoft is at 13.6% and other search engines like Ask and AOL round out the rest of the group.

The numbers in Europe are even more staggering where Google has an estimated 88.5% market share in Germany, 89.79% market share in France, and 79.38% market share in the UK!

What do Yahoo and Microsoft have to say about the recent figures?

Yahoo: “Even though we see a slight drop in market share we’re still growing in number of searches and paid search,” said Yahoo spokeswoman Kathryn Kelly. “These are strong indicators of our position in the market.”

Microsoft: Brad Goldberg, general manager of search marketing at Microsoft, provided this statement, “We are pleased to see market share and query volume for Live Search continue to grow in July, as all third-party indices are reporting.”

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Ask, AOL, and all the other search engines all have their own algorithms and rank different websites on a variety of factors. Which search engine does the best job at returning valuable results is a subject for another time but as long as Google has such a dominating position I am going to continue to optimize my site according to their algorithms.

Evan Carmichael

Evan Carmichael
YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

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