Google Lost Share in U.S. Searches in July as Yahoo Gained
Source: Suresh Seshadri
Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc., the largest Internet- search provider, lost share among U.S. online searches in July while Yahoo! Inc. gained, researcher ComScore Inc. said.
Google's share of the U.S. Web-search market declined to 65.1 percent last month from 65.5 percent in June, while Yahoo's rose to 16.1 percent from 15.9 percent, according to Reston, Virginia-based ComScore. Microsoft Corp. was unchanged at 14.4 percent.
"Google typically displays more summer seasonality than other search engines given its high usage among students in the academic world," Douglas Anmuth, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, wrote in a research note yesterday.
The company, which gets most of its revenue from search- based advertising, is enhancing Internet offerings amid heightened competition from Yahoo and Microsoft, which joined forces in a multiyear search agreement last year. In June, Mountain View, California-based Google unveiled a feature called Instant Pages that gives users of its Chrome browser quicker connections from links on query results, aiming to cut 2 to 5 seconds from the search process.
Google also introduced tools that let users search for online information on a desktop or laptop computer using voice commands, a feature previously available on mobile devices. With the enhancement, a microphone icon appears on the search box, letting users speak simple queries or even get translations.
Google+, the company's new social-networking service, reached 29 million visitors globally in July after being unveiled in late June, ComScore said separately. Google+ had reached about 25 million a week prior to the end of the month, according to ComScore.
Shares of Google fell $24.40, or 4.3 percent, to $549.01 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has lost 7.6 percent this year.
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