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Google loses ground in search battle, AOL continues to freefall
21-08-2006
by The Register

Google lost one percent of its share of the US search market last month.

It's the first time Google has slipped in almost a year, after 11 consecutive months of gains. According to market research firm comScore, 43.7 percent of Americans' 6.7 billion searches went through Google this July, up from 36.5 percent a year ago.

TimeWarner, in the rickety shape of AOL, has dropped four percent in the last 12 months and 0.3 percent in July. It's now scrapping for a measly 5.9 percent of the market.

Yahoo enjoyed a small month-on-month rise in its slice of the pie, at 28.8 percent, comfortably taking second place ahead of MSN. Yahoo had a 30.5 percent share in July 2005.

Yahoo's challenge to Google was strongest via toolbar searching, with 46.2 percent to Google's 50.3 percent.

The multicoloured search leviathan announced that accounts for its web word processor acquisition Writely are now available to everyone, after it migrated the service to its own servers. They had been invitation-only.

Writely is still in beta and has its own original interface, which is inconsistent with Google's spreadsheet service. It's not integrated with Gmail accounts yet either, but the firm says it will be soon, and is encouraging users to get one.

The Register and its contents are copyright 2006 Situation Publishing. Reprinted with permission.