Can Bing Save Microsoft Search?

Nielsen measured the number of searches between May 2009 and May 2008 and found that, not surprisingly, Google lead the pack with growth of 28.2 percent and nearly six billion searches, totaling 63.2 percent of all searches conducted.

Yahoo! came in second with 22.3 percent growth and roughly 1.6 billion searches, a 17.2 market share. But Microsoft saw significantly less than a billion searches -- 890 million -- and that figure was down 14.6 percent from May 2008. Overall, Microsoft's share was less than 10 percent of the market.

The introduction of Bing earlier this month has certainly goosed Microsoft's search figures. On June 1 it doubled the number of unique visitors MSN/Windows Live received on May 31, and almost blew past Yahoo! Search for the No. 2 slot.

By the end of last week, Microsoft's share of search pages went from 8.7 percent during the week of May 25 to 14.7 percent during the week of June 1, according to Nielsen.

The question for Microsoft is, can it continue this momentum? Does a purchase of Yahoo make any sort of sense? If users see Bing as just a reincarnation of Microsoft Live Search, how can the company hope to significantly increase its market share? As Nielsen's Jon Stewart wrote on his blog: "if Bing can successfully redefine search from a tool that aids online navigation to one that helps make decisions, then perhaps Microsoft is carving out a new space where their product is in a different stage of adoption. Maybe the 40 to 50 thousand daily visitors represent early adopters, in which case Microsoft could expect that the current Bing audience represents only 16 percent of the potential market, allowing more room for growth."