Google’s search market share drops below 90% for first time since 2015

Google’s share of the global search engine market fell below 90% for the first time since 2015, according to Statcounter. Google’s global search market share was under 90% during each of the final three months of 2024.

The data. Here’s a screenshot of the 2024 search market share, showing Google dipping below 90% – to 89.34% in October; 89.99% in November; and 89.73% in December:

And here’s the last three-month stretch where Google’s search market share was under 90%, in 2015: 89.62% in January; 89.47% in February; 89.52% in March:

Why we care. As the old saying goes, one’s a dot, two’s a line, and three’s a trend. Cleary, we’re seeing a trend here with Google losing search market share.

Where’s the drop? Google’s search market share appeared to be fairly consistent in most regions except Asia, which appears to have been a big reason for Google’s overall drop.

U.S. drop? Google’s U.S. search market share peaked at 90.37% in November, but fell to 87.39% in December. In the other months of 2024, Google’s U.S. search market share was fairly consistent, varying between 86-88%.

The big picture. Google has been under attack for nearly two years over the growing unhelpfulness of its search results despite dominating thanks to its illegal monopoly status with a commanding and consistent 90-92+% share for nearly a decade.

• Are we now finally starting to see the beginning people moving away to other search engines? This will be an area of interest to watch in the coming months.

Where did searchers go? Did they go to AI answer engines, like ChatGPT Search and Perplexity? Well, not the way Statcounter measures things. Statcounter mainly tracks Microsoft Bing, Yandex, Yahoo and Baidu, but also has another grouping called “other,” which includes the likes of DuckDuckGo and Ecosia.

Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo each gained some of Google’s lost share. Second-place Microsoft Bing hovered at or just under 4% for the final five months of 2024.

Dig deeper. ChatGPT’s search surge: 1% market share predicted by 2025

Bug or blip? You may recall much rejoicing in search marketing and SEO adjacent space when it appeared Google lost a significant amount of search market share in April. However, Google’s huge search market share loss wasn’t real and Statcounter revised its data.

In this case, the drop seems believable because Google was consistently under 90% in October, November, and December.

The data. Statcounter’s Search Engine Market Share Worldwide.