Google Dominates Europe, but Eastern EU Sites Gain Share

Today, ComScore released its March data on European search engine market share. Unsurprisingly Google sites came out on top, commanding 79 percent of searches across the continent. Yahoo and Microsoft came in fourth and fifth place, each with about 2 percent of search market share, respectively.

Worth noting however, is the increasing share for engines in the Eastern European markets, which are dominated by non-English language search technology.

Two Polish properties, Nasza-Klaska.pl and QCL Ricardo have shown considerable relative growth in comparison to ComScore’s February figures. Nasza-Klaska.pl clocked up 1.3 percent of European searches in March, up from 1.1 percent in February. QCL Ricardo also increased to 1.2 percent in March.

In addition, Yandex, Russia’s premier search facility trumped both Microsoft and Yahoo with its 2.2 percent share, slightly below the 2.3 percent it managed in February.

“With Russia’s online population now the fastest growing in Europe, it is likely that some of these local search engines will continue to gain traction and market share,” Jack Flanagan, EVP of comScore said in a statement.