Google lead in search is narrowing

IHT - NYT: "Hardly a week passes without an announcement heralding an Internet search innovation by one of the big sites - Google, Yahoo or Microsoft, which is testing the search engine that it will soon promote on its MSN service. Even the smaller players, like Acoona.com and A9, the search engine run by Amazon.com, are trying to get in on the act.

In November, 51.9 percent of searches were on sites owned by Google, up from 46.6 percent a year earlier. Searches on Yahoo sites rose more slowly, to 29.3 percent in November from 28.2 percent a year earlier.

The market for search advertising has been growing so rapidly that every company involved is profiting. Search revenue at Yahoo increased 72 percent in the fourth quarter, according to an analysis by Goldman Sachs. And even Microsoft is making money from MSN after a decade of losses, in no small part because of search.

Microsoft's test search site (search.msn.com) has a few innovations, like the use of content from its Encarta encyclopedia and a button called "search near me" to find local listings. But Sullivan of Search Engine Watch said that so far, its results did not have the quality of Google's and Yahoo's and were more open to manipulation by site owners. Mehdi said the search formulas of Microsoft were refined each week."