So Much for Brand Loyalty in the Search Market…

It’s not clear yet whether Bing will help Microsoft (MSFT) make any long-term gains in the search market, but it’s certainly shown that it’s possible.

According to early data from from market researcher comScore (SCOR), Microsoft’s new search engine boosted its share of the search market to 11.1 percent from 9.1 percent in the last week. And it bolstered the software giant’s search penetration to 15.5 percent from 13.8 percent.

“These initial data suggest that Microsoft Bing has generated early interest, resulting in a spike in search engagement and an immediate term improvement to Microsoft’s position in the search market,” comScore VP Mike Hurt said in a statement. “So far it appears that the lifts in search penetration and engagement have held relatively steady throughout the five-day period…It appears it is off to a good start.”

Indeed it does. Clearly, Bing has piqued our curiosity. Whether it is able to retain our attention is another matter. The engine’s market share and search penetration three to six months from now are the real metrics to watch here and they’ll tell a far more interesting tale about Bing’s prowess and brand loyalty in the search market.