Google and Yahoo! both lost market share in terms of searches in May 2011 as Bing, Ask and other search engines made significant gains.
According to the latest Experian Hitwise figures, Google Sites were still responsible for over 90% of UK internet searches in May, accounting for 0.32% fewer searches than in April.
Year-on-year, Google Sites were also down by 1.40%, with a lower share of the search market than in May 2010.
Yahoo! Sites also lost search market share last month, dropping from 3.15% of all UK Internet searches in April to 3.08% in May.
The dip in performance for both Google and Yahoo! Sites can be attributed to Microsoft Bing’s growth in popularity.
Microsoft Sites, led by Bing, increased their market share of all UK Internet searches by 0.18% last month, taking the company to 4.26% of UK searches.
Microsoft also improved on its performance in the search market year-on-year with a 1.26% increase in searches. Although not as prominent as Bing, Ask Sites saw growth in May improving their market share of searches by 0.10% and the niche search engines included in the Other category also saw growth of 0.10% between April and May 2011.
Robin Goad, research director of Experian Hitwise, said: “Google is still very much in the driving seat when it comes to search, and May’s minor loss in market share does little to dent the 90% share Google has in this field.
“However, the more interesting trends are to look at year-on-year changes in the search market, where Microsoft is taking market share away from Google. The key will be if Microsoft can continue this trend and mount a stronger challenge on Google.”