Tags: Bing, Firefox, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, search engine market share, search engine marketing
Mozilla Firefox in the Midst of Search Engine War
Companies, whether they make their online strategy themselves or use an internet marketing agency, base their spending on search engine marketing by following the market shares of leading search engines such as Bing and Google, investing more in market leaders. From month to month these figures typically rise or fall by percentage fractions.
However, Bing’s tie-up with Yahoo! allowed the former to raise its market share, though this was at Yahoo’s expense. More changes in market share are in the offing. An agreement between Google and Mozilla that made the former the default search engine for the browser is due to end in November 2011.
As the Firefox browser’s default search engine, Google gains – a report a year ago estimates that almost 10% of all Google searches are generated through Firefox which owns just over a fifth of the market share among browser users –a whopping 450 million.
In this scenario, if Bing can replace Google as Firefox’s default search engine, Bing could well wind up holding a search market share of around 40 percent.
If Bing becomes Firefox’s default search engine, Bing would increase its market share by 9 percent, increasing its total share to 23 percent. Add Yahoo’s market share of 16 percent and Bing could hold a 40 percent stake in the search market. These are projected numbers, but significant to justify Internet users and marketers giving Bing more attention.
Will Google renew its agreement with Firefox? While it cannot gift away almost 10 percent of its search pie, remaining with Firefox – which is its own browser Chrome’s biggest rival – must be an unattractive proposition.
Firefox stands to profit in the event of a bidding war arising in November. It is a big chance for Microsoft, which has lots of cash to spare, to grab a sizeable slice of market share from Google.