Bing's first month produces small share gain

From CNET News.com: Bing took a baby step up the search engine ladder in its first month on the Internet.

Microsoft's share of the search market increased from 7.81 percent prior to the launch of Bing to 8.23 percent for the month of June, according to data from Statcounter picked up by Reuters. Bing got a noticeable bounce during the first few weeks of June, but settled back after the novelty wore off.

Google's share dropped ever so slightly, from a dominant 78.72 percent of the search market in May to a perilously shaky 78.48 percent of the market in June, a drop attributed by more than a few news outlets to Bing's success but one unlikely to cause too much concern in Mountain View. Statcounter was a lone voice suggesting that Bing surpassed Yahoo during its first week of existence, but now reports that Yahoo actually gained share during June in maintaining its second-place position, up from 10.99 percent in May to 11.04 percent in June.

The changes may look small, but all Microsoft ever wanted out of the Bing relaunch was a few percentage points' worth of extra market share, according to executives. One month does not a comeback make, however, and tweaks to both Google and Yahoo's core search products are expected over the rest of the year.

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