Google top for European search queries

8th May 2008

The majority of searches made online in Europe during month made use of Google websites, according to a new report.

Statistics compiled by research firm comScore show that Google accounted for nearly eight in ten of the 25 billion searches made on the continent in March.

Auction website eBay followed with a share of 3.1 per cent, while Russian search engine Yandex pipped Yahoo! and Microsoft to third place with a reach of 2.2 per cent.

"We are seeing key local players show leadership in Eastern Europe, where English is spoken less than in western markets," said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore, adding that this trend is likely to prevail as Russia has one of the fastest growing online populations in Europe.

Almost three-fifths of all US search queries in March originated at Google websites, according to a separate comScore report released last month.