US web users conducted about 12.6 billion core searches during October, according to a new report.
Statistics from comScore show that this represented a seven percent increase compared with the 11.8 billion core searches recorded in September – potentially highlighting a growing need to ensure web content makes adequate use of search engine optimization.
Core searches were defined as those excluding queries on search engines‘ non-core domains for maps, local listings and user-generated videos.
Google continued to lead the way last month, accounting for more than 63 percent of all searches, or 7.9 billion queries in total – up seven percent on September.
Meanwhile, Yahoo! took 20.5 percent of the market with 2.5 billion searches, with Microsoft responsible for almost 1.1 billion searches, or 8.5 percent of the sector.
Earlier this year, the Pew Internet & American Life Project released figures showing that the proportion of US web users turning to online search on a typical day rose from one-third of the internet population in 2002 to 49 percent in 2008.
