Google's quantity searches in the United States during July surged 16 percent over the last year, cementing the company's lead at the top of the market, according to statistics released Tuesday by Nielsen Online.
Google had 60 percent of the 8 billion searches in the month, Nielsen said. Yahoo, whose searches dropped 11 percent, had 17.4 percent of the market, and Microsoft, whose searches dropped 10 percent, had 11.9 percent of the market.
The overall search tally increased 3 percent from July 2007 to July 2008, the company said. Nielsen bases its statistics on the behavior of a panel of Internet users.
AOL's search queries dropped 9 percent over the year, leaving it with 4.6 percent share, and Ask.com's rose 13 percent, leaving it with 2 percent share, Nielsen said.