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Search rankings: Google up, Microsoft down - May 23, 2008

Well waddya know? Google's share of search queries increased still further in April while that of everyone else, including Microsoft and Yahoo, fell, according to the latest data from comScore. So tell me again, Larry and Sergei, why we should be more worried about the anti-competitive implications of a Microsoft/Yahoo combination than about Google's manifest destiny to establish an effective monopoly over perhaps the web's most critical functionality.

According to comScore, Google's overall share of searches increased to 61.6% in April, compared to 59.8% in March, a gain of 1.8 points. Microsoft's combined search share, meanwhile, dropped by 0.3 percentage points while Yahoo lost almost a full point. The two together are now less than half as large as Google.

Coincidentally or not, the comScore data were released on the same day Microsoft confirmed that it will try to bribe search users to defect from Google by offering cash back to consumers who search for and purchase certain products through Microsoft Live. Does this sound like healthy competition to you?


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