Bing Captured 9.85% Of All US Searches in June

According to Informationweek.com (via Experian Hitwise), Microsoft’s Bing search engine captured 9.85% of all US searches in June, up from 9.23% the month before.

Google, which is the 800 pound gorilla of the US search market, captured 71.65% of all searches (down from 72.17% the month before), while Yahoo captured 14.37%.

Google may be the giant in this space still, but don’t think that they are being dismissive of Bing’s rise over the past year.

Since launching Bing in June of 2009, Microsoft has seen their share of the US search market grow from 5.25% to 9.85%. That’s a pretty substantial increase that has come at the expense of Yahoo (-11.24%) and Google (-3.2%).

Don’t forget that Microsoft and Yahoo! entered into a deal in July of 2009 that will see Yahoo use Microsoft Bing’s search engine. The deal, which includes a revenue-sharing agreement (Yahoo will reportedly retain 88% of revenues generated on its pages through the first five years of the deal), will dramatically bolster Bing’s numbers and make them a clear #2 to Google. The transition is expected to be finalized by the beginning of 2011.

Bing’s market share increases over the past year, coupled with the upcoming outsourcing of Yahoo’s search engine to Microsoft, has to have Google more than a bit worried.

Microsoft is a formidable competitor, and they have made it clear (through their words and their actions), that competing with Google in the US search market is a very big priority.

According to PC World, Microsoft’s Online Services Division (OSD) reported a loss of $713 million last quarter. The OSD contains Microsoft’s Bing and MSN businesses. Some of the increased expenditures came in the form of sales and marketing expenses, which reportedly grew to $69 million in the quarter.

One of the few companies that has the ability to compete with Google in terms of money and resources is Microsoft, and they are clearly not being shy about it. Microsoft has nearly $40 billion in total cash reserves, and they clearly don’t mind spending some of this money in the hopes that they will be able to close the distance on Google.

Don’t think that Google is paying close attention to Bing? Think again.

To start with, Google changed the format of their search pages to look more like Bing. Bing has “related searches” and “search history” down the left bar of their pages, and Google instituted a similar left bar navigation system a few months ago.

In addition, Bing is known for showing various images on their home page (Bing.com). Google, just a short while ago, gave its users the ability to add their own background image to Google.com if they choose. This was clearly in response to Bing - some people laughed at Bing for showing the images when the search engine was first launched, but many people clearly like it.

Google is still the 800 pound gorilla of the US search market, but Bing is clearly making inroads.

Source: Informationweek.com - Bing Search Share Up 88% Since Launch

Filed under: General Market News