If you think about how Microsoft peaked at nearly 90% market share with IE6 in the early 2000s - and it still has over 75% even now - one wonders if Google Search will ever gain that kind of dominance worldwide? Already Google has shown it has a lot of sway over social networks, having enticed all the main players but Facebook to sign up to its set of API standards called OpenSocial. So Google is setting standards now in search and social networking, the two most popular activities on the Web.
]]> Recent comScore research put Google at just over 60% market share for search engines worldwide, and Yahoo second with around 14%. Third? Not Microsoft, but Chinese search engine Baidu with about 5%. Microsoft has around 3.5% share worldwide in search engines, according to comScore.
Source: comScore
Google's worldwide share looks even better at Net Applications, where Google sites account for 71% + of worldwide search market share. Yahoo has roughly 10% in those stats. However Baidu only gets 0.10% in Net Applications, so I suspect comScore's figures are closer to the truth.
Source: Net Applications
Going back to the France results, Google has 90% market share there - can they do it in other major countries, like the US and China? You'd have to say no on China, based on Baidu's lead there. But in the US and other major countries, Google is becoming more and more powerful. However, no need to raise alarm bells yet in the US. The latest Hitwise stats for the US show Google with 63.55% market share, up 2.62% from the year before. Yahoo is holding steady at 22%, according to Hitwise.
Still, it's worth keeping an eye on the global stats. If Google can hit 90% in a large market like France, well it could happen elsewhere too.
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