Google dominates the search engine market in the UK, referring nearly three out of four search engine visitors, new data from web analysis firm WebSideStory has revealed. 

The search giant referred an average of 74.67 per cent of all UK visitors to other sites on the web in February, compared to just 9.3 per cent for its nearest competitor, Yahoo, according to the WebSideStory Index. 

Google's search referral percentage in the UK exceeds the US average for the month (55.39 per cent) and the global average (62.4 per cent).

"When people think of search they think of Google, even more so in the UK than in the US," said Rand Schulman, chief marketing officer at WebSideStory.

Rounding out the top five in terms of search referrals were Yahoo (9.3 per cent), MSN (5.46 per cent), AOL (4.21 per cent) and Ask.com (2.28 per cent).