Bing to Control Search By 2012

That's an impressive 5% jump compared from February 2011 results. Though Google still leads the market share with 64.2%, the search giant actually dropped 3% in March.

While these stats are good news for Microsoft, Google should be paying a lot of attention to these results. Its market share has been constantly dropping: from 69.7% in December to 68% in January to 66.7% in February to 64.4% in March.

Here is a comparative chart of Google and Bing's market share in the last 6 months:

Image Source: Mashable

So what would happen if this trend continued? Check out the chart below. Looks like Bing will take the number one spot by January 2012.

Image Source: Mashable

Why is "search giant" Google seeing a decline in its market share? A WebmasterWorld forum discussion has many theories including the following from Brett Tabke:

Google has so screwed around with their serps this last year, that any alternative dependable and reliable that users can count on is going to gain share. Google has done something I didn't think possible " they have broken the trust of the end user. While Bing has been busy showing that they are in it for the long haul and staying-the-course with a user experience that people are coming to trust.

I believe the reason for Google's increase in market share is the fact that they have been playing around a lot with their SERPs over the last year. Such changes could have upset users who are looking for a more dependable and reliable source which Bing has been able to provide.

So while Google still controls two-thirds of the market, I think it should start getting concerned at Bing's impressive market share growth.