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Data show that search query volumes on the PC peaked in 2013

Three years ago was the high-water mark for desktop search.

Greg Sterling on March 22, 2016 at 9:25 am

February US desktop search rankings from comScore are out. The data show almost no changes month over month. There is only very incremental movement.

Bing continues its inch-by-inch gains, while Ask continues to sink inexorably toward one percent. AOL appears to have bottomed out at 0.9 percent. Google was up very slightly this month, and Yahoo lost two-tenths of a point.

Despite the fact that significant search volume has moved to smartphones, comScore has declined to show us a combined desktop-mobile view to date. But without such a perspective, we don’t know what the current market truly looks like.

Overall vs. Google Desktop Search Volume in US (MM)

Data source: comScore

Using comScore data from 2009 to the present, we can see that search queries peaked on the PC in 2013. Desktop volume has been in decline since then. Google’s share of overall search queries mirrors the general market trend.

But that doesn’t tell the whole story. In mobile, Google commands roughly 90 percent of the market, according to directional indicator StatCounter, which may not be entirely representative of the mobile web.

Data: StatCounter

Google has said that mobile search volumes now exceed desktop searches in more than 10 countries, including the US. If the comScore figures are accurate, it would mean that Google sees more than double the search volume reflected in the chart above — or more than 20 billion queries per month.

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.