Microsoft Bing finally overtakes Yahoo in web search

SEARCH ENGINE ALSO-RAN Microsoft has finally managed to surpass Yahoo's US search engine market share.

According to figures released by Comscore, Microsoft's Bing search engine has overtaken Yahoo with 15.1 per cent of the US web search market. The manoeuvre came as Yahoo experienced a 0.6 per cent drop in market share between November 2011 and December 2011.

Microsoft has put considerable research and marketing behind Bing to compete with internet search leader Google, yet has been unable to make a significant dent in Google's market share. Microsoft also signed a deal with Yahoo that saw Bing powering the web portal's search results.

Despite Microsoft's efforts to push Bing, Google still remains the pre-eminent internet search provider by quite some distance.

Microsoft will be pleased that it finally managed to overtake Yahoo, but Comscore's figures show it was Google that picked up most of Yahoo's 0.6 per cent traffic decline. Google increased its market share by 0.5 per cent to 65.9 per cent in December 2011.

Microsoft should be worried that the popularity of Google's Android operating system is likely to increase use of the firm's search engine. And while Microsoft pushes Bing and its associated services through the Windows Phone operating system, its slow and stuttering take-up is unlikely to attract many users away from Google.

Yahoo's decline into third place in the internet search rankings is yet another symbol of how far the once mighty firm has fallen. Yahoo is hawking itself looking for a buyer, and Comscore's figures highlighting its ever dwindling search engine audience are hardly likely to increase its potential sale price. µ