Google gains 21% in Internet search market share, while Yahoo and MSN slip

Google surged ahead among rival search engines in share of visits to Internet search engines and directory portals, with a 21% year-to-year gain in April, as the Yahoo and MSN search engines declined in share by 0.99% and 8.7%, respectively, Internet traffic researchers Hitwise reports. Google’s share of visits to search engines and online directories climbed to 15.26% from 12.57%, while Search.Yahoo.com’s share of visits declined to 10.01% from 10.11% and Search.MSN.com fell to 7.24% from 7.93%, Hitwise says in its Search Engine Report released this week.

The Yahoo.com portal still leads in share of visits overall among search engines and directories, with its April share rising 4.84% year-over-year to a share of 29.24% from 27.89%. Google’s market share of 15.26% ranks second when included among both search engines and portals, followed by the MSN.com portal, at 11.26%.

The top 10 in terms of market share of visitors among both search engines and portals, according to the Hitwise report:
-- Yahoo.com, 29.24%
-- Google.com, 15.26%
-- MSN.com, 11.26%
-- Search.Yahoo.com, 10.01%
-- Search.MSN.com, 7.24%
-- My.Yahoo.com, 5.41%
-- Images.Google.com, 1.44%
-- AskJeeves.com, 1.14%
-- Excite.com, 1.09%
-- Iwon.com, 0.85%.