Bing and Google gaining at Yahoo!'s expense: comScore

The gap between Yahoo! and Microsoft search engines narrowed as the California Internet firm's share of the market sank .5 percent to 17.5 percent and Bing's rose to 10.3 percent, comScore figures posted online indicate.

Google extended its lead in the search market a couple of tenths of a percent to 65.6, according to comScore.

Microsoft and Google have been consistently upgrading online search service features in what has thus-far been a lop-sided duel favoring the Mountain View, California-based Internet king.

The competitors have made priorities of improving mobile search offerings and incorporating real-time content from popular online communities such as Twitter, MySpace and Facebook.

November was the sixth month in a row of modest gains in search share for Bing, which Microsoft unveiled in June accompanied by a 100-million-dollar advertising campaign in a bid to challenge search juggernaut Google.

Yahoo! and Microsoft unveiled a 10-year Web search and advertising partnership in July that set the stage for a joint offensive against Google.

Under the agreement, Yahoo! will use Microsoft's search engine on its own sites while also providing the exclusive global sales force for premium advertisers.

The agreement between the Internet portal and software giant, which is subject to review by US anti-trust regulators, is expected to close in early 2010.

(c) 2009 AFP