By Kathy Shwiff
Dow Jones Newswires
Google Inc. (GOOG) accounted for 72% of all Internet searches in the U.S. last month, according to data provider Hitwise.
Far behind was Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) at 17%, Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) MSN at 6% and IAC/InteractiveCorp.'s (IACI) Ask.com with 4%.
Hitwise, which sampled 10 million U.S. Internet users, has shown Google at the same level for the past few months. A year earlier, Google accounted for 66% of all U.S. searches. Meanwhile, the portion of searches on Yahoo, MSN and Ask fell 17%, 20% and 10%, respectively.
While Google apparently is maintaining its lead as a search engine, the company's advertising business appears to be under increasing pressure as fewer shoppers search for products online and advertisers spend less. Earlier this month, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said the economic situation is "pretty dire" and his company is "not immune" to current conditions.
Google's shares recently traded at $308.24, up 6%, amid a general market rally. The stock price has lost almost half its value since May.
The Hitwise figures also show search engines continue to be the main way Internet users navigate to industry categories. Comparing February numbers with a year earlier, business and finance, sports, online video and social-networking categories showed double-digit increases in the share of traffic coming directly from search engines.
In addition, the Hitwise survey shows the length of search queries has increased in the past year to more than eight words from an average of five.
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