Google and Bing both hit all-time highs in U.S. search market share in October, while overall desktop search activity was up eight percent from the month before.

All of that’s according to comScore’s October 2012 search activity/rankings report.

Google’s market share rose two-tenths of a point, from 66.7 percent in September to 66.9 percent in October. Bing gained a tenth of a point and reached 16 percent in October. Both of those numbers represent all-time highs using comScore’s estimates. Yahoo was static for the month and Ask’s share was down.

Desktop search activity was up significantly in October, too, following a general decline over the past several months.

ComScore estimated that there were about 17.6 billion desktop searches in October, up eight percent from September.

That’s still down, however, from the previous high of 18.4 billion desktop searches, which was set in March 2012. It’s indicative of the rising amount of mobile searches, which we’ve explained before is estimated at between 12 and 30 percent of all searches depending on the category.

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Stats: comScore | Stats: Popularity | Top News

About The Author: Matt McGee is Editor-In-Chief of Search Engine Land. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. You can read Matt's disclosures on his personal blog. See more articles by Matt McGee

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