Bing is now the number two search engine in the U.S. after overtaking Yahoo in the latest search engine market share report from comScore.
More than 18.2 billion searches were completed in December, up 2 percent from November and Google continues to lead with 65.9 percent market share. Bing which launched in June 2009 now accounts for 15.1 percent of searches while Yahoo dropped to 14.5 percent from 15.1 percent in the December 2011 report.
Yahoo web search has been powered by Bing since 2009 when the Yahoo and Microsoft began a 10 year deal. Through this deal, Yahoo tried to cut its costs by allowing Microsoft to provide most of its search technology.
As a result, Microsoft gained more requests to process and analyze, so they better understand search preferences and trends. The two companies had hoped their deal would push Google out of total search dominance.
However, even with 12 billion total searches in December, Google isn’t peacefully sitting in number one. The company may be in trouble because of its new initiative, “Search plus Your World”, which personalizes searches through integration with its Google + social network.
Critics state that Google unjustly gives preference to its results over those of its competitors. The Electronic Privacy Information Center has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, which could invite a probe into Google’s practices.
Our question of the day: Do you prefer using Google, Bing or Yahoo?