Jon Stewart, Research Director, Technology & Search, Nielsen Online
It’s safe to say that expectations of search capabilities and delivery have risen over the years, and Microsoft is betting that this will translate into widespread adoption of their new and improved search engine, Bing. In anticipation of its debut this week, Microsoft posted a teaser video and allowed select individuals to preview the tool, resulting in some substantial pre-launch buzz.
The Early Verdict on Bing
To understand how the buzz on Bing has unfolded over the last few days, we watched commentary—specifically reaction …

Jon Stewart, Research Director, Technology & Search, Nielsen Online
We’ve all been there. We’re at the store sizing up that shiny new product, and everybody from the floor manager to the checkout person to our Significant Other is telling us how much we can save if we just went ahead and bought the darn thing. And we know that spending money isn’t actually saving it, but we do it anyway because it feels so good. Well, last May, Microsoft saw opportunity in our soft spot, and told us that they would …

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.

The Nielsen Company released March 2009 U.S. data for the Top Parent Companies/Divisions and Top Web Brands, as well as average Internet usage. Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! led the way for parent companies online.

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 …

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
Google was the most popular website with U.S. Internet users, drawing the largest audience (120 million unique visitors per month, on average) through October 2008.
As of 2008, the most prolific content downloaders in the U.S. live in California, according to Scarborough Research, a joint partnership with Nielsen and Arbitron. The San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose market had the highest percentage (32%) of adults who had downloaded …

According to Nielsen Online, Google Search accounted for more than half of all online searches in the month of September with an estimated 4.8 billion queries. Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and Ask.com rounded out the top five.

RANK
Provider
Searches (000)
% of Searches

#
All Searches
8,089,226
100.00%

1
Google Search
4,825,556
59.70%

2
Yahoo! Search
1,464,478
18.10%

3
MSN/Windows Live Search
953,504
11.80%

4
AOL Search
335,187
4.10%

5
Ask.com Search
178,217
2.20%

6
My Web Search
53,825
0.70%

7
Comcast Search
51,935
0.60%

8
AT&T Worldnet Search
30,086
0.40%

9
NexTag Search
17,775
0.20%

10
Dogpile.com Search
17,574
0.20%

Source: Nielsen Online, MegaView Search -September 2008

View the full press release.