Google Captured 72.7% Of US Internet Searches In April: Hitwise

New York — Google Inc., continue to lead the search ranking, capturing 72.74% share of all U.S. searches conducted in the four weeks ending April 25, 2009, representing a 7% increase in market share year-over-year, according to search data provider Hitwise.

During the same period in April, Yahoo Inc. was leading at the number two spot with 16.27% of all searches, while its year-over-year growth rate declined 20 percent.

Microsoft Corp.’s MSN Search was trailing at number three spot with 5.68% of all searches conducted and IAC/InteractiveCorp.’s Ask.com received 3.95% of searches, according to the figures displayed. The remaining 49 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.36% of US searches.

Hitwise, which surveyed 10 million U.S. Internet users, has shown Google at the same level for the past few months. In March, its share was 72.4%, while a year earlier, Google accounted for 67.9% of all U.S. searches. Meanwhile, the portion of searches on Yahoo, MSN and Ask fell 20%, 9% and 5%, respectively, from last year.

Search engines remains to be the primary way Internet users navigate to key industry categories. Comparing April 2009 with April 2008, Business and Finance, Sports and Online Video categories showed double-digit increases in their share of traffic coming directly from search engines, writes Marketing Charts.

The scope of search queries has increased over the past year. Longer search queries, averaging searches of five to more than eight words in length have increased 7 percent between April 2009 and April 2008.

Searches of eight or more words increased 18 percent. During the same time period, shorter search queries averaging one to four words have decreased 2 percent. Searches of two words accounted for the majority of searches, representing 22.95 percent of all queries.

Search engines continue to be the main way Internet users find key industry categories. Comparing April 2009 with April 2008, business and finance, sports, online video and social networking categories showed double-digit increases in their share of traffic coming directly from search engines.

Searches of two words comprised the majority of searches, amounting to 22.95% of all queries.

Last month, Google said its first-quarter profit rose 8.9% on higher revenue and U.S. paid clicks for Internet searches. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said the results underlined the “resilience of our business model and the ongoing potential of the Web as users and advertisers shift online.”