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Detailed analysis has revealed Google’s share of the global search engine market fell below the 90% marker for the first time in around 10 years.
According to Statcounter, Google’s near monopoly on search was dented to levels not seen since 2015 with other contenders grabbing a slice of the pie.
Not only are rival search engines taking users from Google, but a developing trend is the power of AI models for search. The likes of ChatGPT, xAI, and Perplexity will only get stronger and more capable of providing an all-round response to users for search, details, and real-time info.
As relayed by Search Engine Land, the 2024 data revealed Google dipped to 89.34% in October, 89.99% in November, and fell below 90% in December with 89.73%.
Google’s search market share drops below 90% for first time since 2015 via @MrDannyGoodwin https://t.co/Y8DgHnxYlF pic.twitter.com/i4JwR97CsS
— Search Engine Land (@sengineland) January 13, 2025
The rise of AI search and alternate providers
The last three-month period with similar figures, under the 90% threshold, was in 2015 from January to March with respective figures of 89.62%, 89.47%, and 89.52%.
The data showed Google’s usage remained constant across most regions, except Asia where there was a noticeable decline and a major reason for the overall decline.
In the home market of the United States, Google’s share spiked as high as 90.37% in November, before falling to 87.39% in December. The levels averaged out between 86-88%.
As stated above, the impact of AI models on search is here to stay, and that trend is one to watch in particular.
Other alternative search providers, like the security-conscious DuckDuckGo, present themselves as giving users something different from Google.
The overall picture is an interesting, intriguing one to assess with other players such as Microsoft’s Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo all vying for contention.
However, Google’s towering dominance is reflected with Bing recording a market share of just under 4% for the last five months of 2024.
Image credit: Via Midjourney
