Nielsen Mobile is reporting that Google leads rivals Yahoo and Microsoft in mobile search by margins comparable to those on the desktop.

Here’s how mobile search market share breaks out according to the audience measurement firm:

1. Google (61%) 2. Yahoo! (18%) 3. MSN (5%)

Nielsen also reported the following mobile search usage frequency:

* Google: 9 searches per month * Yahoo! 6.7 searches per month

In consumer research I’ve independently conducted with Opus Research for LocalMobileSearch, we’ve found a range of usage distribution that shows the hierarchy of engines mirroring the desktop but precise usage percentages varying somewhat from survey to survey.

Yahoo has said that through its roughly 60 carrier and other relationships it has the potential to reach 600 million mobile users globally.

Yahoo also recently conducted a study of 20 million queries across its various mobile properties: SMS, Go, and WAP search. I’ve written a report that discusses the findings as well as those from smaller, earlier studies done by Google. If you’d like a copy of that report, contact me at greg.sterling at gmail.com.

Nielsen will be presenting this and other mobile search data at SMX Local-Mobile on July 24-25. If you haven’t registered, you should do so today. Prices go up after June 21.

Related Topics: Google: Mobile

About The Author: Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog Screenwerk, about SoLoMo issues and connecting the dots between online and offline. He also posts at Internet2Go, which is focused on the mobile Internet. Follow him @gsterling. See more articles by Greg Sterling