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Yahoo Sees Big 1.6 Percent Monthly Search Share Gain At Google’s Expense In New comScore Data

Significant monthly bump likely the result of Firefox default search deal.

Greg Sterling on January 20, 2015 at 5:38 pm

Measurement firm comScore just released its December search market share report for the US. Last week the firm mistakenly posted the data early and quickly depublished the page.

In the earlier release comScore showed Google losing 0.5 percent points vs. November 2014. Beneficiaries of that loss were Yahoo and Bing respectively. Bing gained 0.1 percent share while Yahoo picked up 0.4 points. However these numbers (chart below) were apparently in error and immediately withdrawn.

The official data just released (below) show a much larger Yahoo gain of 1.6 points — at Google’s expense apparently. The Bing number is unchanged. But Google is off 1.6 percent, which is the same percentage as Yahoo’s bump.

The gain was not explained in the comScore release. However it’s very likely attributable to Yahoo’s Firefox default search deal that earlier data from StatCounter found had produced search gains for the company.

We’ll see if this growth holds up over time given reports that some Firefox users are switching back to Google.

Compare November search engine rankings:

In mobile search, Google has a nearly 84 percent market share. Yahoo is second with just under 11 percent and Bing has just under 6 percent of the US mobile search market, according to StatCounter.

If it holds up this is a major reversal for Yahoo, which had steadily been losing search market share since it joined forces with Bing and formed their Search Alliance several years ago.

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+.