Web search leader Google Inc. gained an additional 6 percentage points of the U.S. search market based on total queries, widening its lead last month against Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, according to data released Tuesday.
Google's share of the search market rose to 42.3 percent in February from 36.3 percent a year earlier, according to data provided by tracking firm ComScore.
Searches on Yahoo Internet sites represented 27.6 percent of the market, down from 31.1 percent a year earlier, while queries on MSN fell to 13.5 percent from 16.3 percent. (MSNBC.com content is distributed by MSN. MSNBC itself is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.)
IAC/InterActiveCorp.'s Ask.com was the only other search engine to gain share, to 6 percent of the market from 5.3 percent a year earlier.
Industry analysts picked up on the data, citing it as a strong sign for Google in its rivalry for advertising revenue. An overall 11 percent increase in total search queries for the month also bodes well for the sector, they said.
"We expect Google's increased market share in search queries, and better monetization of queries to lead to increased share of ad dollars relative to its competitors" in the first half of 2006, Merrill Lynch analysts Justin Post and Lauren Rich Fine wrote in a research note Tuesday.
Merrill Lynch said Google also stood to gain in the coming months as its main competitors "struggle" to improve the technology and experience surrounding their search engines.
Google could eventually capture a 70 percent market share, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Jordan Rohan.
"The question really comes down to how long it could take," Rohan wrote in a research report. He rates both Google and Yahoo shares at "outperform."
At the same time, Rohan noted that market share data does not always correlate with the ability of companies like Google to generate revenue from Web searches.
For example, Rohan noted that Google revenue rose 20 percent for the third quarter, even though the volume of searches on its site were down during the period.
