• by Kristin Sidorak , March 6, 2006

Web users conducted a record 5.7 billion searches in January, marking a 39 percent increase from last January's 4.1 billion, according to new data from Nielsen//NetRatings. Search activity in January also increased by about 12 percent from December, when users conducted about 5.1 billion search queries.

The reported surge in search use came just several days after Google CEO George Reyes warned that the "law of large numbers" meant that the company probably couldn't continue to double its revenues every year. (Several days later, Google CEO Eric Schmidt sounded a bullish note at a company conference for analysts.)

Search giant Google accounted for 48 percent of all searches--up from 47 percent last year--while Yahoo captured 22 percent, an increase from last year's 21 percent. MSN garnered 11 percent of search activity, marking a slight decline from last year's 13 percent.

AOL Search was the fourth most popular engine--with 368 million searches, or 6.5 percent--while My Way Search, powered by IAC/Interactive's Ask, garnered 155 million searches, or almost 3 percent. The company's Ask Jeeves brand--which last week was renamed Ask--drew 131 million searches, or around 2 percent.