<\/p>\n
Statcounter has updated its search engine market share statistics for April, and the results are shocking. If they are true I have my doubts, but I hope Statcounter will confirm if these numbers are really accurate.<\/p>\n
By the numbers. <\/strong>Google’s US search market share fell to 77.52% in April, down from 86.94% in March and 88.8% in April 2023. Meanwhile:<\/p>\n Microsoft Bing grew to 13.05% in April, up from 8.04% in March. Yahoo (!) grew to 7.3%, up from 2.48% in March.<\/p>\n See why I’m still skeptical? How do Microsoft Bing and Yahoo grow so much in one month? <\/p>\n But wait, there’s more.<\/p>\n Google’s global search engine market share fell from 91.38% in March to 86.99% in April. In the meantime:<\/p>\n Microsoft Bing grew to 5.8% in April, from 3.35% in March. Yahoo grew to 3.06% in April, from 1.1% in March.<\/p>\n There are other unexplained swings, some larger than others, found in other regions as well, based on Statcounter data.<\/p>\n But. <\/strong>Before you start cheering, the data looks suspicious. Some expect Statcounter to “correct” these numbers because these kinds of large swings seem impossible and unprecedented.<\/p>\n Why we care<\/strong> The first thing I thought after seeing these numbers was: they look wrong. User behavior does not change this quickly. While SEOs and others have been very critical of Google over the past few years, often with good reason, I’ve never seen market share numbers swing like this in a month unless there’s a change in the way how the data was collected or if there is any change. some kind of problem with the data.<\/p>\n