Google Loses Search Share, Microsoft Gains Through Gimmicks

Google lost some search market last month, dropping from 50.7% in May to 49.5% in June.  Investors were not worried as Google still brings in the big bucks (reporting financial results Thursday, by the way).  Yahoo!, on the other hand, still disappoints on that score.  The Panama search system that would help revitalize revenue is working, but apparently not enough to forestall disappointing results reported Tuesday.  Yahoo! also lost search market, going from 26.4% to 25.1%.  The winner in June was Microsoft, who went from 10.3% to 13.2%.  The reason for that is the Windows Live Search Club where the software giant sponsors games that require players to use Live Search for clues and answers.  The incentive is points for software and other commodities from Microsoft.  Some reports suggest that players are racking up the points using bots to conduct searches, which kind of inflates their market share artificially.  The way Windows Live has been going, MS will probably take the results, although paying advertisers may want to ask a few questions.