Nielsen Online today reported data for the top U.S. search providers, ranked by total searches, the top companies/divisions and web brands in May 2009.  Total searches increased 20 percent over May 2008.
Top 10 Search Providers for May 2009 (U.S.) 

Provider
Searches (000)
YOY Growth
Share of Searches

All Search
9,440,467
20.3%
100.0%

Google Search
5,968,840
28.2%
63.2%

Yahoo! Search
1,625,253
22.3%
17.2%

MSN/Windows Live Search
891,502
-14.6%
9.4%

AOL Search
364,784
13.1%
3.9%

Ask.com Search
205,438
21.9%
2.2%

My Web Search
77,283
44.7%
0.8%

Comcast Search
55,853
33.1%
0.6%

Yellow Pages Search
33,141
n/a*
0.4%

NexTag Search
27,189
29.9%
0.3%

AT&T Worldnet Search
17,719
-32.4%
0.2%

Source: Nielsen MegaView Search

 * A year-over-year comparison is not possible because of a definitional change to Yellow Pages Search.

RANK
Provider
Searches (000)
YOY Growth
% of all Searches

All Search
8,608,488
4.40%
100.00%

1
Google Search
5,510,366
7.80%
64.0%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,406,416
-2.80%
16.3%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
852,998
7.20%
9.9%

4
AOL Search
321,205
-8.80%
3.7%

5
Ask.com Search
181,617
5.90%
2.1%

6
My Web Search Search
59,110
3.60%
0.70%

7
Comcast Search
45,338
-1.80%
0.50%

8
Yellow Pages Search
37,160
N/A*
0.40%

9
NexTag Search
22,845
3.90%
0.30%

10
Dogpile.com Search
17,010
3.10%
0.20%

Source: Nielsen MegaView Search
* A year-over-year comparison is not possible because of a definitional change to Yellow Pages Search.

According to Nielsen Online, approximately 8.5 billion Web searches were conducted during February 2009, a 10% percent jump from January 2008.
Google searches accounted for 63.5 percent of all Web searches with nearly 5.4 billion queries. Yahoo, MSN, AOL and Ask.com continued to round out the top five.

RANK
Provider
Searches (000)
YOY Growth
Share of Searches

All Search
8,494,653
10.10%
100.00%

1
Google Search
5,394,190
19.20%
63.50%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,415,354
4.00%
16.70%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
881,050
2.40%
10.40%

4
AOL Search
320,098
-19.90%
3.80%

5
Ask.com Search
162,226
-16.90%
1.90%

6
My Web Search
55,772
-21.60%
0.70%

7
Comcast Search
42,895
1.30%
0.50%

8
Yellow Pages Search
37,636
N/A*
0.40%

9
AT&T Worldnet Search
17,371
-27.60%
0.20%

10
Dogpile.com Search
15,880
-28.90%
0.20%

Source: Nielsen Online, MegaView Search

* A year-over-year comparison is not possible because of a definitional change to Yellow Pages …

According to Nielsen Online, there were approximately 9.5 billion Web searches conducted during January 2009, up an impressive 27.5 percent from January 2008.
Google searches accounted for 62.8 percent of all Web searches with more than 5.9 billion queries.  Yahoo, MSN, AOL and Ask.com continued to round out the top five.
Searches represent the total number of queries conducted at the provider.

Rank
Provider
Searches (000)
YOY Growth
Share of Searches

 
All Searches
9,461,583
27.5%
100.0%

1
Google Seach
5,945,064
40.8%
62.8%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,528,779
8.7%
16.2%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
1,057,677
18.3%
11.2%

4
AOL Search
381,769
8.9%
4.0%

5
Ask.com Search
181,205
1.0%
1.9%

6
My Web Search
66,649
-6.9%
0.7%

7
Comcast Search
50,311
25.8%
0.5%

8
Yellow Pages Search
25,392
NA*
0.3%

9
AT&T Worldnet Search
24,061
-2.0%
0.3%

10
NextTag Search
23,145
30.0%
0.2%

Source: Nielsen Online, MegaView Search

* A year-over-year comparison is not possible because …

According to Nielsen Online, there were roughly 8.6 billion Web searches conducted during December 2008 – up 19.6% over the same month last year.
Google searches accounted for nearly 63% of all Web searches, with 5.4 billion queries. Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and Ask.com rounded out the top five.
Searches represent the total number of queries conducted at the provider.

RANK
Provider
Searches (000)
YOY Growth
Share of Searches

All Searches
8,623,705
19.60%
100.00%

1
Google Search
5,421,943
33.50%
62.90%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,448,140
13.70%
16.80%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
841,457
-15.50%
9.80%

4
AOL Search
357,025
5.10%
4.10%

5
Ask.com Search
169,116
6.00%
2.00%

6
My Web Search
62,415
-11.60%
0.70%

7
Comcast Search
50,385
45.10%
0.60%

8
NexTag Search
29,219
0.70%
0.30%

9
AT&T Worldnet Search
27,176
8.00%
0.30%

10
BizRate Search
23,593
37.10%
0.30%

Source: Nielsen Online, MegaView Search

According to Nielsen Online, there were almost 8.1 billion Web searches conducted during November 2008 — up 9.6% over the same month last year.
Google searches accounted for more than 64% of all Web searches, with almost 5.2 billion queries.  Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and Ask.com rounded out the top five.

Rank
(by # of
searches)
Provider
Searches
(in 000’s)
% Growth:
Year Over Year
% of Searches

 
All Searches
8,075,564
9.6%
100%

1
Google Search
5,177,158
21.7%
64.1%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,299,306
-1.4%
16.1%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
733,460
-16.7%
9.1%

4
AOL Search
344,465
3.6%
4.3%

5
Ask.com Search
184,059
-6.0%
2.3%

6
My Web Search
71,113
-18.3%
0.9%

7
Comcast Search
40,645
3.5%
0.5%

8
AT&T Worldnet Search
25,351
-13.3%
0.3%

9
NexTag Search
22,308
-19.5%
0.3%

10
Dogpile.com Search
17,121
-6.5%
0.2%

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 2008).

View the full press release.
Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings on CNET.com and Silicon.com, as well as in Mediaweek and …

Google (60% search share) and Yahoo! (18.1% search share) were the number one- and number two-ranked online search providers in the U.S. for August, according to Nielsen Online.
AT&T Worldnet Search (+203.8%) and Comcast Search (+30.9%) showed the largest year-over-year growth for the time period.

Provider
Searches
(in 000’s)
Year-Over-Year
Growth
Share
of Searches

All Search Providers
7,222,826
-7.7%
100.0%

Google Search
4,331,153
3.1%
60.0%

Yahoo! Search
1,304,889
-16.5%
18.1%

MSN/Windows Live Search
770,592
-23.8%
10.7%

AOL Search
376,331
-13.5%
5.2%

Ask.com Search
143,231
4.7%
2.0%

Comcast Search
45,438
30.9%
0.6%

My Web Search
38,550
-46.3%
0.5%

AT&T Worldnet Search
30,272
203.8%
0.4%

NexTag Search
17,901
-20.6%
0.2%

Dogpile.com Search
15,418
-27.8%
0.2%

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 1, 2008 - August 31, 2008)