Bing surpasses Yahoo in search market share

Microsoft's Bing has overtaken Yahoo as the second-most popular search engine on the web, according to a recent report.

Research firm StatCounter said in its report that Bing handled 4.37 per cent of the world's search queries. Meanwhile, Yahoo logged 3.97 per cent, marking the first time that the Microsoft has been able to surpass Yahoo.

Both sites were well behind market leader Google, which weighed in with a hefty 89.94 per cent of the global search load.

"It is significant that Bing overtook Yahoo globally for the first time on a monthly basis but it remains a tough battle to claw back Google’s market share, " said StatCounter chief executive Aodhan Cullen.

"Although Google dipped below the 90 per cent mark in February worldwide for the first time since August 2009 it shows little sign of losing its global dominance any time soon."

Google's lead over its rivals was even larger in the UK. The company claimed a 92.46 per cent share, compared to 3.65 per cent for Bing and 2.45 per cent for Yahoo. Ask Jeeves was fourth in the rankings with a 0.75 per cent share, followed by AOL with 0.62 per cent.

Among all of Europe, Google enjoyed a 94.7 per cent market share. Bing claimed two per cent of searches in Europe while Yahoo weighed in with 1.22 per cent.

Antitrust worries stemming from Google's huge market share have been a hot topic as of late. The company is said to be in talks with the EU on a deal which could help protect it against further legal actions.

In the US, Google's share of the market was lower. StatCounter recorded a 79.63 per cent stake of the search market. Yahoo pulled back ahead of Bing in the US, reeling in a 9.74 per cent share of the market compared to a 9.03 per cent share for Bing.