Report: Bing Trumps Yahoo Search for Second Time

For the second time since its launch, Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing, overtook Yahoo! in usage among U.S. Internet users, according to a new report. But the site has a long way to go before making a dent in the Google (News - Alert) giant.

 

Bing took 12.9 percent of the U.S. market over Yahoo!'s (News - Alert) 10.15 percent at the beginning of July, announced StatCounter Global Stats, a Web analytics company. But the search engine still lags far behind Google, which commands the top spot with nearly 75 percent of the market, the company said.

 

Aodhan Cullen, chief executive officer of StatCounter, said the latest figures may be the result of a positive review of Bing that appeared on the New York Times Web site on July 8 and in its print edition a day later.

 

"While its lead over Yahoo may not last into next week, our data suggests that it is slowly but surely closing the gap," Cullen said of Bing in a statement.

 

StatCounter reported last month that Bing surpassed Yahoo! one day following the site’s June 1 launch.

Overall in June, StatCounter said Bing took third place in search engine market share. Microsoft (News - Alert) had 8.23 percent share in the United States behind Yahoo at 11.04 percent and Google at 78.48 percent, the company said.

 

Microsoft is gaining users, thanks in part to its $80 million to $100 million campaign, which focuses on the idea that current search engines don’t work as well as consumers previously thought. The company launched the site two days before its slated June 3 release.

 

The software giant recently announced it has integrated Bing search into Hotmail. As TMCnet reported, users can add images and video search results from Bing to their e-mails. The new tool, dubbed “quick add,” lets people add restaurant reviews, movie times, images, video and maps into their e-mail messages.

 

Meanwhile, another Web tracker released a report that shows Bing’s market share is trailing Yahoo!  Hitwise Pty., which measures online traffic, said Yahoo! maintained had 16.19 percent of the market compared to Bing’s 5.25 percent. Google held on to 74.04 percent of the market in June, the company said. Hitwise said, however, that Bing's use grew an average of 2 percent during each week in June.

 

Bing, formerly known as Kumo, features a variety of services, including Bing Travel, Bing Cashback and Bing Maps for Enterprise. The name is designed to conjure “the sound of found” as Bing helps people with complex tasks.