Jan. 06	Jan. 05	Change in Percentage Points
Google Search	48.2	47.1	1.1
Yahoo! Seach	22.2	21.2	0.9
MSN Search	11	12.8	-3.1

Source: Nielsen/NetRatings, March 2006

Google Extends Search Dominance

If only its stock price held up so well. Even as Google's shares tumbled in January, the company continued its dominance of Web search. Google made up 48.2% of the 5.7 billion U.S. searches in January, compared with 47.1% a year earlier, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Google retained its lead over next-closest rivals Yahoo!, which had 22.2%, and Microsoft's MSN, with 11%. (Google stock, meantime, dropped 8.9% from a record $475.11 on Jan. 11 to finish the month at $432.66. The concern? It's overly dependent on search-related ads.)

The number of searches surged 39% from 4.09 billion a year earlier, Nielsen/NetRatings says. "Web users are conducting more searches not because they can't find what they're looking for, but because search as a utility has become deeply ingrained into people's everyday lives," says Ken Casey, chief analyst at Nielsen/NetRatings.

Posted: 3/9/06

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Google Tries to Make Nice