Google holds its edge

Google continues to lead in search engine popularity, according to new research.

Figures released this week by Hitwise reveal that the search engine's share of the US market has continued to grow, climbing to 72.39 per cent in March, from 72.11 per cent in the previous month.

However, both Microsoft's and Yahoo's shares declined, from 5.56 per cent to 5.5 per cent and from 17.04 per cent to 16.36 per cent respectively.

In terms of year-on-year growth, Google was up by eight per cent, while Microsoft's Live Search shrank 17 per cent and Yahoo! declined 19 per cent, corresponding with the time period when Microsoft launched its failed bid to purchase Yahoo's search business.

Search itself has also changed, with the use of one word or two word queries declining two per cent and six per cent respectively over the last 12 months.

However, the use of seven word or eight or more word queries increased considerably by 11 per cent and 20 per cent.

Earlier this week, Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt spoke to the News Association of America and claimed that the future of online media was likely to be free, with audiences for paid content getting smaller.

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