Google Pads Search Lead, Again

In April, Google continued to pull away from competitors Yahoo and Microsoft in terms of how often people use its search engine, according to new research from ComScore Networks.

ComScore reported May 22 that some 43.1 percent of all Internet searches in April went through one of Google’s search engines. That means Google’s share of the Internet search market rose by7 percentage points compared to what it was in April 2005.

Meanwhile, in April the other top search engines each lost market share, ComScore said, presumably to Google.

No. 2 Internet search provider Yahoo’s share of Internet search fell from 30 percent in April 2005 to 28 percent in April 2006.

Microsoft MSN Search share dropped 4 percentage points to 12.9 percent in April 2006. Meanwhile American Online sunk to 6.9 percent in April 2006, from 9 percent a year ago.

Google’s also dominating when it comes to the number of searches it hosts. Consider this: In April, Google’s 1.9 billion total of search queries was twice that of Yahoo, the No. 2 search engine, during the same time period.

April 2006 was the ninth straight month, according to ComScore, that Google’s increased its market-leading share of Internet searches.