Andrew at OneUpWeb posted Nielsen search share data for the past six months and found that Google's chokehold actually grew tighter in the long run, as
the giant gained 3% of market share from July to December 2007. In contrast, MSN and Ask each grew by less than 1% in that time--while AOL slipped further into search nonexistence by losing
half a percentage point. The biggest loser was Yahoo search, which lost market share by about 2.5%.
He makes the case that while Wall Street may be feeling a bit antsy about Google
(not to mention every other tech stock, or stock in general--given the recession), the fact that the giant continues to increase overall share is the bigger story. Google is sustaining its place as
the dominant search provider--which means that advertisers will continue to pump dollars into the AdWords coffers, and shareholders can continue to reap the rewards.
Andrew also notes that Yahoo's downward trend is more disheartening (not that the Street hasn't noticed), and wonders if the Web giant will ultimately go the way of AltaVista when it comes to search.