Hitwise: August 2007 Search Share Favors Google, Yahoo - Microsoft Drops
Yes, it's that time of the month again — search popularity stats time. Several ratings services are out with figures for August 2007, and I'm starting off with a look at those from Hitwise.
Context & Ripple Effects
The monthly ratings ritual continues: Hitwise has published its August 2007 U.S. search figures, putting Google at 64 percent of all U.S. searches, with Yahoo holding the number-two position and Microsoft sliding. Search Engine Land's writeup kicks off its usual cycle of comparing several ratings services' takes on the same month.
Why the numbers matter beyond bragging rights: paid-search budgets and ad-network pitches track these share readings closely, so each monthly release from Hitwise and its rivals feeds directly into how advertisers and publishers judge where query volume — and therefore auction inventory — actually sits.
First-order effects
- Advertisers and agencies recalibrating spend against Hitwise's August data face a market where Google alone carries nearly two-thirds of U.S. queries, concentrating bidding competition and cost-per-click pressure on its inventory.
- Microsoft's declining share weakens the core selling point of its search ad offering — audience reach — at exactly the moment it needs advertiser commitments to build that very inventory.
Second-order effects
- Yahoo's firm hold on second place gives it the strongest 'scale alternative' pitch to advertisers looking to diversify away from Google, sharpening its position in agency allocation conversations.
- A shrinking-share Microsoft comes under internal and market pressure to change its search approach — through product overhauls or partnerships — since incremental feature tweaks have not moved the Hitwise line.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, U.S. search hardens into a one-and-a-half-player market where Google's query volume compounds its ad-auction advantages, raising the effective barrier for any challenger regardless of product quality.
- Monthly third-party trackers like Hitwise consolidate their role as the industry's de facto scoreboard, meaning share narratives — not just actual traffic — increasingly shape advertiser behavior.
The trend: U.S. search is consolidating around Google, with Hitwise's monthly share readings functioning as the scoreboard that steers advertiser budgets and challenger strategy alike.