The remaining market share for Alt Search Engines 2007 = 1.68%. In 2008 = 1.63%

1) The winner takes it all.  How close to 100% do you think Google can get?

2) Google is not necessarily gaining; perhaps Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask.com are imploading.

3) A rising tide lifts all boats.  Oh wait, but the tide is receding.  Never mind!

Source: Hitwise

Any comments?

Here’s a response by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten at TheNextWeb.com:

Check out this graph by Hitwise based on a sample of 10 million U.S. based Internet users. In 12 months Google gained 7,21% of search traffic. The other search engines lost a combined (Yahoo -3,91%, MSN -2,02%, Ask -1,23%) 7,16% which means that Google is growing faster than other search engines are shrinking.

So how big will Google get? If they keep growing like this they will reach 100% market share within 4 years. Will that happen? Or can we expect Google to make a strategic investment in Yahoo & Ask just to keep the competition alive and avoid becoming a monopoly.

That seems unlikely but it is what Microsoft did in 1997 by investing $150 million into Apple. Or will Google be the Altavista of this century and will we see an alternative search solution take its place? I think we all agree that Google advertising business is too big and mighty to be easily replaced. But search? How hard could it be to come up with a better solution?

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