Online searches double in a year

The UK is the world's fourth biggest search market

The number of online searches has increased by nearly 46 per cent since last year, according to market research firm comScore.

The comparative measurement was taken in December 2009 and compared to the same period the previous year.

Around 131 billion searches were recorded worldwide last month by business users and consumers over the age of 15.

This figure represents four billion searches a day, or 175 million an hour or 29 million a minute, according to comScore.

"Search is clearly becoming a more ubiquitous behaviour among internet users that drives navigation not only directly from search engines but within sites and across networks," said comScore executive vice president Jack Flanagan.

"If you equate the advance of search with the ability of humans to cultivate information, the world is rapidly becoming a more knowledgeable ecosystem.

"The global search market continues to grow at an extraordinary rate, with highly developed and emerging markets contributing to the strong growth worldwide."

ComScore has ranked the UK as the fourth largest search market in the world with 6.2 billion searches last month, after Japan with 9.2 billion, China with 13.3 billion and the US with 22.7 billion.