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

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Microsoft unseated longtime number two-ranked Web brand, Yahoo! in September, Nielsen Online reported Wednesday.
Last month, Microsoft drew almost 120.9 million unique visitors, while Yahoo! drew 116.7 million.
Google remained the top-ranked Web brand in September, with more than 127 million unique visitors, according to Nielsen.

Google and Yahoo! were again the number one- and number two-ranked Web brands in August, according to Nielsen Online.

Rank
Web Brand
Unique Audience
(in 000s)
Time Per Person
(hh:mm:ss)

1
Google
123,690
1:25:18

2
Yahoo!
117,702
3:22:31

3
MSN/Windows Live
103,953
2:21:25

4
Microsoft
93,558
12:38:39

5
AOL Media Network
93,070
3:33:46

6
YouTube
75,442
1:01:01

7
Fox Interactive Media
70,696
1:54:24

8
eBay
55,842
1:52:01

9
Wikipedia
52,987
0:21:24

10
Apple
48,766
1:10:42

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

ONLINE BRAND
TOTAL STREAMS
 (in 000s)
UNIQUE VIEWERS
(in 000s)

YouTube
4,762,883
76,746

Fox Interactive Media
278,375
16,053

Nickelodeon Kids and Family Network
223,044
6,935

MSN/Windows Live
205,018
12,035

Disney Online
171,249
10,341

Yahoo!
169,259
19,659

ESPN
123,123
5,827

Hulu
107,622
2,632

CNN Digital Network
106,383
8,111

Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network
87,441
3,892

Source: Nielsen Online, VideoCensus
Note: Online brands are ranked by video streams; data includes progressive downloads and excludes video advertising.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Ad Age.

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)

Olympic athletes broke 132 Olympics records and set 43 new world records during the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.
Meanwhile, Olympics fans who logged on to the Internet to follow the events around the clock set a new online precedent during the Games,  Nielsen Online reported Wednesday.
Olympics Web Portals
In the U.S., NBC, an official broadcast partner for the event, drew an average of 18 million (week one) to 18.9 million unique visitors (week two) to its Olympics website during the Games.
Yahoo’s Olympics section drove more traffic than NBC’s site, but visitors to NBCOlympics.com …

Google (60.2% search share) and Yahoo! (17.4% search share) were the number one- and number two-ranked online search providers in the U.S. for July, according to Nielsen Online. 
AT&T Worldnet Search showed the largest year-over-year growth (+210%) for that time period. 

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

All Search
7,996,956
3%
100.0%

Google Search
4,812,974
16%
60.2%

Yahoo! Search
1,393,723
-11%
17.4%

MSN/Windows Live Search
951,882
-10%
11.9%

AOL Search
369,611
-9%
4.6%

Ask.com Search
162,337
13%
2.0%

Comcast Search
45,511
22%
0.6%

My Web Search
43,085
-38%
0.5%

AT&T Worldnet Search
33,128
210%
0.4%

NexTag Search
21,218
5%
0.3%

Dogpile.com Search
17,270
-33%
0.2%

Source: The Nielsen Company (July 1, 2008 – July 31, 2008)

Search providers are ranked by the total number of search queries conducted at the provider.
Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings on CNET, Silicon Alley Insider, and in Mediaweek. 

MarketWatch reported last week that Google increased its share of the U.S. online search market by 19% over June 2007, according to Nielsen Online.  The company now controls 59% of the market. 
Yahoo’s share declined by 12.4% to 16.6.% during the same time period, while Microsoft’s share grew by 12.5% to 14.1%, according to Nielsen Online.