Hitwise has released search engine volume data that shows Google with just over 60% of total online searches in the U.S. Here is the breakdown, according to Hitwise:

U.S. Volume of Searched Top Search Engines Four Week Period Ending July 29, 2006:

  • Google: 60.2%
  • Yahoo: 22.5%
  • MSN: 11.8%
  • Other: 5.5%

They indicate that it is a slight increase for Google and Yahoo and a slight decrease for MSN.

I wonder how Ask.com fares in all of this. I still think they have a great search engine and I find myself more disappointed with Google and Yahoo results all the time. With Yahoo’s recent update, results seem to be even closer to Google. Is search becoming just another commodity? In “organic” search results, what does, can or will differentiate the brands? Does it even matter any more?

Here’s a fun tool to see the overlap of Yahoo and Google results:
yahoo! vs. google

Here is the Hitwise piece:

Bill Tancer - Hitwise US: Google Breaks 60% - U.S. July Search Volume Numbers


Tagged as: Google, Search Engines, Yahoo, SEM, SEO, MSN, Ask, , , ,