Bing to surpass Google in 2012?

With an impressive growth rate since September 2010, Microsoft's search engine Bing might overtake search giant Google by 2012, at least in the United States. A projection by tech site Mashable suggested the growth of Bing-powered searches and the decline of Google-powered searches may lead to this scenario. "Google still clearly leads Bing more than 2 to 1. But when you consider that that ratio was 3 to 1 last fall, the gap appears to be closing. Bing is growing by five or six percent each month, whereas Google is losing two to three percent," said Mashable's Christina Warren. Citing data from Experian Hitwise, Warren said Google was responsible for 64.42 percent of searches in the U.S. in March 2011. Bing-powered search, which includes both search.yahoo.com and bing.com, accounted for 30 percent of U.S. searches. Last October, Experian Hitwise said Google controlled 72.15 percent of the U.S. search market for September 2010. At the time, Bing powered search accounted for 23.64 percent. Moreover, Bing.com, which represented just 10 percent of searches in September 2010, represented 14.32 percent of searches in March 2011. But Warren said that Bing overtaking Google assumes "sustained growth and sustained losses" by both services, respectively —an uncertain possibility, given the volatile market. "In this scenario, Google drops 3 percent of its market share each month, while Bing gains 5 percent each month. Of course, this assumes sustained growth and sustained losses on the parts of both search engines. In a volatile market, it is extremely unlikely that we’ll see these exact numbers over the next year," she said. Yet, Warren said Bing has definite momentum. "After years of referring to Google as 'the search giant,' it looks as if there is a serious contender for that title —and we could be heading towards an era dominated by two search superpowers," she said. In July 2009, Yahoo! and Microsoft struck a 10-year deal where Microsoft's Bing would power Yahoo! search, and Yahoo! would become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. "For Web users and advertisers, this deal will accelerate the pace and breadth of innovation by combining both companies’ complementary strengths and search platforms into a market competitor with the scale to fuel sustained development in search and search advertising. Users will find what they care about faster and with more personal relevance. Microsoft’s competitive search platforms will lead to more value for advertisers, better results for web publishers, and increased innovation and efficiency across the Internet," Microsoft said in a 2009 news release. In October 2010, Microsoft's Bing partnered with social networking juggernaut Facebook to bring Facebook friends' recommendations to online search. "When you search for something on Bing or in web results on Facebook (powered by Bing), you'll be able to see your friends' faces next to web pages they've liked. So, you can lean on friends to figure out the best websites for your search," chief technology officer Bret Taylor said in a blog post. — TJD, GMA News