• December 22, 2008

Video searches on Google's YouTube accounted for one-quarter of all Google search queries in the U.S., making the stand-alone company the second-largest engine by searches, according to comScore's recent report for November.

Queries on Google's core search engine fell 2%, but YouTube's gains, 8%, offset any declines at the parent company.

Americans conducted 12.3 billion searches in November--down 3% sequentially, which comScore attributes to fewer days in the month. Overall, Google sites led with 10.8 billion searches, remaining flat sequentially. Yahoo sites ranked second with 2.6 billion searches, down 3% sequentially; followed by Microsoft with 1.1 billion, and AOL with 725 million. Both declined 6%, sequentially.--Laurie Sullivan