RSS
Twitter
Facebook
It was a long time coming but Microsoft search engine Bing has surpassed Yahoo search to become the internet’s second most trafficked search property.
When combined with other Microsoft owned properties users visited the site 2.75 billion times in December, while Yahoo processed 2.65 billion searches during the same period according to web analytics firm comScore Inc.
Translated into market share Bing grabbed 15.1 percent of U.S. search traffic while Yahoo scored 14.5% of the U.S. market.
Still far ahead is Google which grabbed 12 billion U.S. requests in December for a 65.9% market share.
Microsoft’s Bing search engine was expected to jump past Yahoo after the company’s announced a 10-year partnership in July 2009 which saved Yahoo money by allowing the world’s former No. 1 search giant to rely largely on Microsoft technology for its own search platform.
Under that deal Microsoft gained access to billions of Yahoo search requests which in turn has allowed the company to better it’s own technology.
While news of a second place finish is a positive step for Microsoft it has come at a huge cost. While pursuing Google for online search market share Microsoft’s online division has reported an operating loss of $7 billion since June 2008.
Microsoft’s increasing dominance over Yahoo is likely the result of a loss in interest in Yahoo search as much as it is an increasing in interest for Bing.
