Google Accounted For 87% Of All UK Searches In May

Google search properties accounted for 87% of all UK searches for the four weeks ending May 31 2008, according to new figures from online research firm Hitwise.

This figure represents a 12% increase compared to May 2007. By comparison, Yahoo! search properties accounted for 4.1% of UK searches in May 2008, a 2% increase compared to April 2008.

MSN search properties accounted for 3.7% and Ask search properties accounted for 3.1 percent of searches. MSN increased 2% compared to April 2008 and Ask increased 6%.

In the US, Google accounted for 68.3% percent of all US searches in May.

Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com each received 20%, 5.9% and 4.2% percent respectively.

The remaining 41 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.6% percent of US searches.

Search engines continue to be the primary way for internet users to navigate key industry categories in the UK.

Comparing May 2008 to May 2007, the Sports, Online Video and Social Networking categories showed double digit increases in their share of traffic coming directly from Google (10%, 25% and 32% respectively).

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