I posted February 2012 search engine rankings, as well, if you would like to compare February 2012 with March 2012.

During March 2012, according to comScore, “Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in March with 66.4 percent market share, followed by Microsoft Sites with 15.3 percent and Yahoo! Sites with 13.7 percent. Ask Network accounted for 3.0 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.6 percent.”

18.4 billion explicit core searches were conducted in March, with Google Sites ranking first with 12.2 billion (up 4 percent). Microsoft Sites ranked second with 2.8 billion searches (up 5 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 2.5 billion (up 4 percent), Ask Network with 555 million (up 4 percent) and AOL, Inc. with 285 million (up 7 percent).

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in February with 66.4 percent of search queries conducted.

Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in February with 66.4 percent market share (up 0.2 percentage points), followed by Microsoft Sites with 15.3 percent (up 0.1 percentage points) and Yahoo! Sites with 13.8 percent. Ask Network accounted for 3.0 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.5 percent.

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google led the explicit core search market in January with 66.2 percent of search queries conducted.

Google led the U.S. explicit core search market in January with 66.2 percent market share (up 0.3 percentage points), followed by Microsoft Sites with 15.2 percent (up 0.1 percentage points) and Yahoo! Sites with 14.1 percent. Ask Network accounted for 3.0 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.6 percent.

17.8 billion explicit core searches were conducted in January, with Google Sites ranking first with 11.8 billion. Microsoft Sites ranked second with 2.7 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 2.5 billion, Ask Network with 527 million and AOL, Inc. with 277 million.

Google Sites accounted for 66.2 percent of total core search queries conducted (up 0.1 percentage points), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 16.0 percent and Microsoft Sites with 13.8 percent. Ask Network comprised 2.6 percent of total search queries, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.4 percent.

* “Total Core Search” is based on the five major search engines, including partner searches, cross-channel searches and contextual searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in these numbers.

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a leader in measuring the digital world, and released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google’s web sites led the core search market in December 2011 with 65.9 percent of search queries conducted.

Google has 65.9 percent market share, which is up 0.5 percentage points from the previous month. Microsoft’s web sites now has 15.1 percent (up 0.1 percentage points from the previous month) and Yahoo!’s web sites have 14.5 percent. Ask Network accounted for 2.9 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.6 percent.

According to comScore, “More than 18.2 billion explicit core searches were conducted in December (up 2 percent). Google Sites ranked first with 12 billion (up 3 percent), followed by Microsoft Sites with 2.7 billion (up 2 percent) and Yahoo! Sites with 2.6 billion. Ask Network delivered 531 million searches (up 3 percent), while AOL, Inc. rounded out the top five with 287 million.”

comScore notest that the May 2011 data represents the second month of results that include the impact of Yahoo! Search Direct, Yahoo!’s new feature that “delivers search results in real-time while users type their query.”

According to comScore, web sites owned by Google “led the U.S. explicit core search market in May with 65.5 percent market share (up 0.1 percentage points), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 15.9 percent and Microsoft Sites with 14.1 percent. Ask Network accounted for 2.9 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.5 percent.”

During May 2011, more than 17 billion search queries were conducted. This is actually up five percent over April 2011.

Google-owned websites had 11.2 billion search queries, which is up 5 percent.

Yahoo!-owned websites had 2.7 billion search queries, also up 5 percent since the previous month.

Microsoft-owned websites had 2.4 billion search queries during May 2011, which is up 4 percent versus April 2011.

Ask had 502 million search queries total.

AOL had 254 million search queries total during May 2011. AOL’s search queries are up only 2 percent.

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) , a leader in measuring the digital world, has recently released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in April with 65.4 percent of search queries conducted.

Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in April with 65.4 percent market share, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 15.9 percent (up 0.2 percentage points) and Microsoft Sites with 14.1 percent (up 0.2 percentage points). Ask Network accounted for 3.0 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.5 percent.

Here are the actual numbers, as released by comScore:

More than 16.2 billion explicit core searches were conducted in April. Google Sites ranked first with 10.7 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 2.6 billion, Microsoft Sites with 2.3 billion, Ask Network with 491 million and AOL, Inc. with 248 million.

Google Sites accounted for 64.2 percent of total core search queries conducted (up 0.1 percentage points), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 17.9 percent and Microsoft Sites with 13.8 percent (up 0.2 percentage points). Ask Network comprised 2.7 percent of total search queries, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.4 percent.

In order to accurately represent the continued evolution of the search landscape, comScore is providing insight into the share of algorithmic explicit searches that are powered by Google and Bing, and branded as such to the consumer. Google’s “powered by” share is composed of searches conducted at Google entities, as well as branded searches at AOL and Ask. Bing’s “powered by” share is composed of searches conducted at Microsoft entities as well as branded Yahoo! entities.

In April, 67.8 percent of searches carried organic search results from Google, while 26.5 percent of searches were powered by Bing organic results.

source:comScore

According to comScore, “November marked the official start of the holiday shopping season, sending Americans swarming retail and coupon sites to take advantage of early deals and promotions. Retailers offered attractive discounts and free shipping to draw early shoppers to their sites for purchase. Among the top gaining retail subcategories were Jewelry/Luxury Goods/Accessories, Toys and Consumer Electronics, each growing at least 25 percent versus October.”

I am not surprised that the Google Ad Network led the November Ad Focus ranking with a reach of 93.2 percent of Americans online, followed by Yahoo! Network Plus with an 86.1-percent reach, Yahoo! Sites with 85.3 percent and AOL Advertising with 85.0 percent. Vibrant Media climbed 6 positions to capture the #14 spot with a 68.0-percent reach, while Walmart.com appeared on the top 50 ranking at #49 with 22.9 percent.

Here are the actual number of unique visitors of the top 50 web sites in the United States and their traffic for November 2010, as reported by comScore:

Property Unique Visitors
Yahoo! Sites 180,987,000
Google Sites 178,726,000
Microsoft Sites 175,731,000
FACEBOOK.COM 151,722,000
AOL, Inc. 114,484,000
Ask Network 92,369,000
Glam Media 89,864,000
CBS Interactive 88,017,000
Turner Digital 86,452,000
Amazon Sites 83,875,000
Viacom Digital 81,710,000
Wikimedia Foundation Sites 77,773,000
New York Times Digital 72,280,000
Apple Inc. 69,896,000
Fox Interactive Media 69,184,000
eBay 68,441,000
Demand Media 64,831,000
Answers.com Sites 57,926,000
VEVO 57,760,000
Wal-Mart 51,817,000
craigslist, inc. 49,720,000
Comcast Corporation 49,019,000
NetShelter Technology Media 45,819,000
ESPN 43,129,000
Technorati Media 42,714,000
Gannett Sites 39,851,000
Target Corporation 39,777,000
YellowBook Network 39,635,000
Federated Media Publishing 38,708,000
Weather Channel, The 37,891,000
Break Media Network 37,314,000
Adobe Sites 34,982,000
iVillage.com: The Womens Network 33,045,000
Alloy Digital Network 31,695,000
Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. 30,371,000
AT&T Interactive Network 30,111,000
Disney Online 29,928,000
Superpages.com Network 29,891,000
Tribune Interactive 29,628,000
WordPress 29,250,000
Best Buy Sites 28,805,000
LINKEDIN.COM 28,470,000
WeatherBug Property 28,304,000
Conde Nast Digital 27,806,000
Sears Sites 27,773,000
Six Apart Sites 26,997,000
Everyday Health 26,575,000
CafeMom Network 26,540,000
Verizon Communications Corporation 26,489,000
NFL Internet Group 26,238,000

Note that in order to be listed as a top 50 website (or network of websites), you will need to receive at least 26 million unique visitors per month. I am actually kind of surprised that Ask is getting 92 million unique visitors in their network.

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) , a leader in measuring the digital world, has recently released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in November with 66.2 percent of searches conducted. It actually looks like Google’s sites are going up in market share. In comparison, in August 2010, I reported that Google Sites led the explicit core search market in August with 65.4 percent of searches conducted. Now Google is at 66.2 percent.

It is important to note that the November 2010 qSearch figures represent the third month of results including the impact of Google Instant Search. Here are the actual numbers, as reported by comScore:

U.S. Explicit Core Search

Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in November with 66.2 percent market share, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 16.4 percent and Microsoft sites with 11.8 percent (up 0.3 percentage points). Ask Network accounted for 3.6 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL LLC Network with 2.0 percent.

More than 16.0 billion explicit core searches were conducted in November. Google Sites ranked first with 10.6 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites in second with 2.6 billion and Microsoft Sites in third with 1.9 billion. Ask Network accounted for 580 million explicit core searches, followed by AOL LLC Network with 327 million.

U.S. Total Core Search

Google Sites accounted for 64.3 percent of total core search queries conducted, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 19.3 percent (up 0.8 percentage points) and Microsoft Sites with 11.3 percent. Ask Network comprised 3.3 percent of total search queries (up 0.1 percentage points), followed by AOL LLC Network with 1.8 percent.

Americans conducted nearly 17.8 billion total core search queries in November. Google Sites ranked first with 11.4 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 3.4 billion and Microsoft Sites with 2.0 billion.

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) , a leader in measuring the digital world, has recently released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in August with 65.4 percent of searches conducted.

Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in August with 65.4 percent market share, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 17.4 percent (up 0.3 percentage points) and Microsoft sites with 11.1 percent (up 0.1 percentage points). Ask Network captured 3.8 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL LLC with 2.3 percent.

Here are the actual numbers, as released by comScore:

  comScore Explicit Core Search Share Report*
  August 2010 vs. July 2010
  Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
  Source: comScore qSearch
                           Explicit Core Search Share
  Core Search Entity                   (%)
                                                Point
                         Jul-10     Aug-10     Change
  Total Explicit Core
   Search                  100.0%     100.0%       N/A
  Google Sites              65.8%      65.4%      -0.4
  Yahoo! Sites              17.1%      17.4%       0.3
  Microsoft Sites           11.0%      11.1%       0.1
  Ask Network                3.8%       3.8%       0.0
  -----------                ---        ---        ---
  AOL LLC Network            2.3%       2.3%       0.0
  ---------------            ---        ---        ---

*”Explicit Core Search” excludes contextually driven searches that do not reflect specific user intent to interact with the search results.

Nearly 15.7 billion explicit core searches were conducted in August. Google Sites ranked first with 10.3 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites in second with 2.7 billion (up 3 percent) and Microsoft Sites in third with 1.7 billion (up 2 percent). Ask Network accounted for 598 million explicit core searches (up 2 percent) followed by AOL LLC Network with 366 million.

  comScore Explicit Core Search Query Report
  August 2010 vs. July 2010
  Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
  Source: comScore qSearch
                          Explicit Core Search Queries
  Core Search Entity                  (MM)
                                              Percent
                         Jul-10     Aug-10    Change
  Total Explicit Core
   Search                 15,589     15,695         1%
  Google Sites            10,263     10,259         0%
  Yahoo! Sites             2,661      2,728         3%
  Microsoft Sites          1,712      1,744         2%
  Ask Network                588        598         2%
  -----------                ---        ---       ---
  AOL LLC Network            365        366         0%
  ---------------            ---        ---       ---

Google Sites accounted for 60.5 percent of total core search queries conducted, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 21.0 percent and Microsoft Sites with 12.8 percent. Ask Network captured 3.5 percent of total search queries, followed by AOL LLC with 2.2 percent.

  comScore Total Core Search Share Report*
  August 2010 vs. July 2010
  Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
  Source: comScore qSearch
  Core Search Entity      Total Core Search Share (%)
                                                Point
                         Jul-10     Aug-10     Change
  Total Core Search        100.0%     100.0%       N/A
  Google Sites              61.6%      60.5%      -1.1
  Yahoo! Sites              20.1%      21.0%       0.9
  Microsoft Sites           12.6%      12.8%       0.2
  Ask Network                3.5%       3.5%       0.0
  -----------                ---        ---        ---
  AOL LLC Network            2.2%       2.2%       0.0
  ---------------            ---        ---        ---

* “Total Core Search” is based on the five major search engines, including partner searches, cross-channel searches and contextual searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in these numbers.

Americans conducted more than 16.9 billion total core search queries in August with Google Sites leading with 10.3 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 3.6 billion and Microsoft Sites with 2.2 billion.

  comScore Total Core Search Query Report
  August 2010 vs. July 2010
  Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
  Source: comScore qSearch
                           Total Core Search Queries
  Core Search Entity                  (MM)
                                              Percent
                         Jul-10     Aug-10    Change
  Total Core Search       16,673     16,950         2%
  Google Sites            10,263     10,259         0%
  Yahoo! Sites             3,351      3,562         6%
  Microsoft Sites          2,106      2,166         3%
  Ask Network                588        598         2%
  -----------                ---        ---       ---
  AOL LLC Network            365        366         0%
  ---------------            ---        ---       ---

A Note about September 2010 qSearch Reporting

comScore’s ability to report qSearch data for September 2010 will not be impacted by recent changes in the search landscape, including the introduction of Google Instant Search and Microsoft’s powering of specific channels of search activity within Yahoo! Google’s introduction of Instant Search does not disrupt comScore’s ability to measure search activity consistently, but does introduce a new dynamic that will be addressed in our data collection methodology.

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) has just released a report on Twitter’s explosive growth worldwide. The comScore study found that in June 2010, about 93 million Internet users visited Twitter.com. This is an overall increase of 109 percent over last year. Indonesia reported the highest number of users, with 20.8 percent of Internet users in Indonesia visiting Twitter.com in June of 2010, followed by Brazil and Venezuela. Venezuela’s growth fueled in large part by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s decision to join Twitter in late April 2010. This just goes to show that if you do not have a Twitter social media account for you or your business, then you need to set one up right away.

In June 2010, about 93 million unique global users age 15 and older visited Twitter from a home or work location. This is an increase of 109 percent from last year of June 2010. Keep in mind that this data excludes usage of Twitter-based applications such as TweetDeck and Hoot Suite.

An analysis by comScore of the five major global regions revealed that Latin America experienced the strongest audience growth, surging 305 percent to 15.4 million users. Asia Pacific ranked as the second-fastest growing region, climbing 243 percent to 25.1 million visitors. The Middle-East Africa jumped 142 percent to 5 million visitors, while Europe soared 106 percent to 22.5 million visitors. North America, where Twitter has reached a higher maturity level than other regions, saw a growth of 22 percent to nearly 25 million visitors in June.

Here are the numbers from comScore:

  Visitation to Twitter.com by Global Regions
  -------------------------------------------
  June 2010 vs. June  2009
  ------------------------
  Total Audience, Age 15+ -Home & Work
   Locations*
  ------------------------------------
  Source: comScore Media Metrix
  -----------------------------
                        Unique Visitors (000)
                        ---------------------
                     Jun-09      Jun-10    % Change
                     ------      ------    --------
  Worldwide            44,520      92,874       109
  ---------            ------      ------       ---
  Latin America         3,792      15,377       305
  -------------         -----      ------       ---
  Asia Pacific          7,324      25,121       243
  ------------          -----      ------       ---
  Middle East -
   Africa               2,058       4,987       142
  -------------         -----       -----       ---
  Europe               10,956      22,519       106
  ------               ------      ------       ---
  North America        20,390      24,870        22
  -------------        ------      ------       ---

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

Across the 41 individual countries currently reported by comScore, Indonesia at 20.8 percent had the highest proportion of its home and work Internet audience visiting Twitter.com. Brazil ranked second with 20.5 percent penetration, followed by Venezuela at 19.0 percent. With Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez joining Twitter in late April, Twitter.com penetration in the country spiked 4.8 percentage points in a few short months. The Netherlands (17.7 percent) and Japan (16.8 percent) rounded out the top five, while countries in Latin America and Asia Pacific represented many of the remaining top markets, including the Philippines (14.8 percent), Mexico (13.4 percent) and Singapore (13.3 percent).

  Top 20 Markets by Twitter Penetration
  -------------------------------------
  June 2010
  ---------
  Total Audience, Age 15+ -Home & Work
   Locations*
  ------------------------------------
  Source: comScore Media Metrix
  -----------------------------
  Location                     % Reach
  --------                     -------
  Worldwide                             7.4
  ---------                             ---
  Indonesia                            20.8
  ---------                            ----
  Brazil                               20.5
  ------                               ----
  Venezuela                            19.0
  ---------                            ----
  Netherlands                          17.7
  -----------                          ----
  Japan                                16.8
  -----                                ----
  Philippines                          14.8
  -----------                          ----
  Canada                               13.5
  ------                               ----
  Mexico                               13.4
  ------                               ----
  Singapore                            13.3
  ---------                            ----
  Chile                                13.2
  -----                                ----
  United States                        11.9
  -------------                        ----
  Turkey                               11.0
  ------                               ----
  United Kingdom                       10.9
  --------------                       ----
  Argentina                            10.5
  ---------                            ----
  Colombia                              9.6
  --------                              ---
  South Korea                           9.3
  -----------                           ---
  Ireland                               8.4
  -------                               ---
  India                                 8.0
  -----                                 ---
  Malaysia                              7.7
  --------                              ---
  New Zealand                           7.5
  -----------                           ---

*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.

What’s interesting is that an analysis of Twitter usage via mobile for the six mobile markets currently reported by comScore (U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Spain and Italy) revealed that Twitter is gaining adoption among smartphone users. In the U.S., 8.3 percent of smartphone users (4.2 million people) accessed Twitter.com in a month via the browser on their mobile devices, outpacing each of the European markets. In Europe, 2.8 percent of smartphone users overall accessed Twitter.com (1.7 million users), with the U.K. experiencing the strongest penetration in the region at 5.8 percent, followed by Germany with 3.1 percent and France with 2.1 percent.

  Twitter Penetration Among Mobile
   Smartphone Users*
  3 Month Avg. Ending June 2010
  Total Audience Age 13+
  Source: comScore MobiLens
  -------------------------
                  Twitter    % Reach of
                  Audience   Smartphone
                     (000)      Users
                 --------   -----------
  United States      4,246          8.3
  -------------      -----          ---
  Europe             1,681          2.8
  ------             -----          ---
  United
   Kingdom             793          5.8
  --------             ---          ---
  Germany              322          3.1
  -------              ---          ---
  France               173          2.1
  ------               ---          ---
  Spain                165          1.5
  -----                ---          ---
  Italy                227          1.4
  -----                ---          ---

*Includes only mobile browser access to Twitter and does not include other Twitter-based mobile applications.

comScore says that “For applications such as Twitter that function as an instantaneous broadcast medium, the mobile device represents the ideal platform to engage with this content anytime and anyplace,” added Mr. Mudd. “The advanced web browsing features of smartphones enable this behavior, making it likely to accelerate as these devices gain continued adoption. While desktop-based Internet usage is still king, mobile web usage is surging on a global scale placing applications like Twitter at the forefront of that paradigm shift.”