Second-Tier Search Engines Catching Up With Google, Yahoo, MSN

America Online Inc. and Ask Jeeves saw double-digit growth in the number of search queries in the second quarter, outpacing the top 3 search engines, Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, an Internet metrics firm said Thursday.

The number of searches on AOL and Ask Jeeves rose by 15 percent and 16 percent, respectively, from the first quarter, while Google saw only a 6 percent increase and Yahoo, 9 percent, Nielsen/NetRatings said. MSN, on the other hands, had a 4 percent drop in search queries.

The numbers were a boost for AOL, which is preparing for a major launch this summer of a free web portal that looks to compete with the three top vendors. AOL is looking to grab a piece of the growing online advertising market that Google and Yahoo have leveraged to build multi-billion-dollar businesses.

"It's possible that the relatively large growth AOL saw in the second quarter could be a positive early sign," Ken Cassar, an analyst for Nielsen/NetRatings, said. "But it's too early to tell. AOL is really just beginning to deliver on its strategy of moving more and more of its content and (subscription) customers to the free web."

A rise in the use of image search drove the query increases on Google, Yahoo and AOL, the research firm said. News search was the main driver behind Ask Jeeves's increase. Even though MSN saw a drop in queries, the number of image searches quarter to quarter rose 90 percent.

For the month of June, Google captured 47 percent of all search queries to hold on to its No. 1 position in the market, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Yahoo was a distant second with 22 percent, followed by MSN, 12 percent; AOL, 5 percent; and My Way Search, 2 percent.

That fact that My Way, a search aggregator that displays results from Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves and LookSmart, came in ahead of Ask Jeeves in June was interesting, but no conclusions could be drawn, Cassar said.

"This could be just a hiccup," he said.

My Way sells ads through sponsored links, but doesn't carry any banner or pop-up advertising. Consumers may be finding My Way's approach to advertising, which is similar to Google's, attractive, Cassar said.