Latest Search Market Share Numbers: Google Search Down on Desktop, Up Overall by @SouthernSEJ

Google’s share of the US desktop search market is not just stagnating, it is now on the decline. However, that shouldn’t necessarily be a cause for concern because the company’s overall share of the of the US search market, across all devices, is growing. This is according to August 2016 data from StatCounter.

Month-Over-Month US Desktop Search Share

Here is a comparison of August 2016 vs. July 2016, with the previous month’s numbers in parentheses:

• Google: 79.88% (79.17%)
• Bing: 9.9% (10%)
• Yahoo!: 8.34% (8.87%)
• AOL: 0.84% (0.88%)
• DuckDuckGo: 0.41% (0.43%)
• Other: 0.62% (0.65%)

As you can see, desktop search market share is down across the board. Meaning US searchers are generally conducting fewer searches on desktop, regardless of their search engine of choice.

Now let’s take a look at overall search market share, including desktop, mobile, tablet, and console.

Month-Over-Month Combined US Search Share

Here is a comparison of August 2016 vs. July 2016, with the previous month’s numbers in parentheses:

• Google: 85.82% (85.38%)
• Yahoo!: 6.58% (6.99%)
• Bing: 6.39% (6.39%)
• AOL: 0.46% (0.46%)
• DuckDuckGo: 0.35% (0.37%)
• Other: 0.4% (0.42%)

As you can see, Google’s overall share of the US search market is growing incrementally. However, the same cannot be said for its two closest rivals, Yahoo and Bing, which are declining and flatlining respectively.

So where exactly is Google gaining in search market share? The answer is mobile. Here’s one more comparison, illustrating Google’s gains in mobile search.

Month-Over-Month US Mobile Search Share

Here is a comparison of August 2016 vs. July 2016, with the previous month’s numbers in parentheses:

• Google: 94.53% (94.02%)
• Yahoo!: 4.07% (4.48%)
• Bing: 1.01% (1.08%)
• DuckDuckGo: 0.23% (0.24%)
• Baidu: 0.04% (0.05%)
• Other: 0.13% (0.13%)

It’s clear that Google is again the only search engine gaining marketing share in this category, while mobile searches on competing search engines are either declining or staying flat.

Does that mean Google is growing in mobile search volume at the expense of its rivals? That’s just speculation at this point, but the numbers sure paint an interesting picture.