Kara Swisher

Recent Posts by Kara Swisher

Yahoo Search: Look Out Below, as Bing Gains Again (and Google Remains as Scary as Ever)

Say this about the toolbar and distribution deals, which Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz keeps saying were too pricey for the Internet portal: They have certainly given Microsoft’s search offering, Bing, a very nice boost.

In all likelihood, it is that and more causing Bing to make solid gains on Yahoo (YHOO), whose market share declined yet again this month, according to comScore’s monthly report of search market share in the United States.

According to comScore (SCOR), Microsoft (MSFT) saw its share rise to 11.5 percent in February, up from 11.3 percent in January.

Meanwhile, Yahoo dropped from 17 percent to 16.8 percent, another month in a troubling run of them. Each point of share lost, according to many sources and analysts, represents about $100 million in online advertising revenue.

Bartz has also repeatedly said Yahoo’s share would improve soon, as the company innovates its consumer search experience in the wake of outsourcing search technology to Microsoft as part of a recent deal.

And it goes without saying, still at the tippy-top as the mice battled, elephantine search giant Google (GOOG) also managed to eke out a small gain, rising to 65.5 percent 65.4 percent.

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