Microsoft Corp. registered a 0.4% increase in their search market share in June at the slight expense of Yahoo! not Google, said comScore.

The bigger picture of the worldwide search market now looks like this (figures updated on July 9th):

• Google 90.85%
• Yahoo: 4.26%
• Bing: 3.04%

32% of Bing visitors come from the US, taking BING’s search market share in the US to 8.45% (StatCounter, June 2009), an additional 0.4%, whilst Google remains stable at 65%. However in the UK Bing only represents 2.56% of the search market.

What’s in it for users?

Microsoft presented Bing not as a search engine, but as a decision search engine, offering more contextual, relevant results to help decision making. (more…)

I want to search a certain query in search engines. So which one do I use?  Habit drives me towards Google knowing they are the biggest player in the market, but is that REALLY the best search engine to use for my specific query? Will Google give me the most relevant results? Apparently so, according to a new study by Citigroup. Their recent analysis of search relevancy found that Google was better than any of its main competitors in returning relevant results. (more…)

Recently we have had Wolfram Alpha offering a comprehensive “computational” knowledge engine and Google Squared promising a simple way of pulling organised data from websites into a spreadsheet style format.

Now last week we have seen Microsoft’s Live Search engine evolve into what they are now calling their decision engine. Originally code-named Kumo and supported by Microsoft’s hefty marketing muscle, Bing has been launched. (more…)

With the arrival of Microsoft’s new search engine now imminent it seems as though it is anyone’s guess what the service will be called.

The latest rumours coming out of Microsoft have the word “Bing” bounding around as the potential new name. This follows on from the other possible contenders that have been thrown about, the much vaunted Kumo, Hook and Sift.   (more…)

More than a few months down the line a merger between Microsoft and Yahoo now seems to be on the cards, for definite this time. Industry blogger, Kara Swisher has reported one of her sources informed her that “the deal had now become a case of the how and not just the if.” (more…)

Microsoft and Google are preparing to do battle again in an effort to strike a deal with Twitter involving their search service.  The All Things Digital website reported that the two major companies are vying with each other for control of what those in the know are calling “the next great battlefield in search”.

This is due to the real time search nature of the “tweets” posted by Twitter users. There is also the opportunity of selling related ads on the Twitter site that is of interest to both Google and Microsoft.  (more…)

Not seeming to be making any headway in the search market business, Microsoft has decided that is enough is enough, and is going to throw their chequebook at the problem.

Looking at possibly changing the branding of its search and the way in which the search process is delivered, Microsoft is set to invest between $80-$100 million worth of marketing to get the results they desire. (more…)

Whilst probably not a surprise to anyone that uses internet search the figures just released by Neilson online show that Google has once again pulled further away from its competitors.

Of the 9 million plus searches that took place in January 2009 in the United States nearly 6 million of them happened on Google, this is more than double those with Yahoo and MSN Live Search combined who were second and third respectively. Following a long way behind those two was AOL Search, Ask.com and My Web Search. (more…)

Then Microsoft’s Live Search has a new application which maybe what you’re looking for. If you have Internet Explorer 8 you can now get Live Search instant answers on subjects such as the weather, the stock market and movie times without clicking off the home page. (more…)

Microsoft has beaten rivals Google to secure being the default search provider of America’s soon to be largest wireless carrier Verizon. The deal was cited as a major victory for Microsoft with both Google and Yahoo! bidding for the same service. Verizon are currently closing on a takeover of Alltel to give them 78 million subscribers in the US taking them past AT&T as the number one carrier in the US. 

Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer announced the deal in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electrics Show after a long period of speculation. The deal also allows for Microsoft to manage the search and display advertising on Verizon’s mobile internet service as well.  (more…)