For some reason I had an inordinate number of searches to conduct this morning. I’m always looking up something as part of research for my job. I would say that I am on Google for a good part of most of my work days.

In my personal life, I often write down little things, or words or the names of people in movies, or anything that I want to know more about. Then, when I get home I run to my computer and immediately Google the items. Okay, my name is Lisa and I’m a searchoholic.

That’s why instead of dedicating this space to March Madness (go Boston College!) or to St. Patty’s day, I’m putting the emphasis on search. A comScore report crossed my desk today stating that there is evidence that the growth in the U.S. Search market is slowing.

The good news for search companies, according to the report, is that the utilization of search queries for advertising purposes continues to increase. In December 2005, 57.2 percent of search query results included a sponsored advertisement, up from 49.1 percent a year earlier.

Additionally, the international search market continues to be strong, with a growth rate of 34 percent, the report states.

Total Internet Searches January 2006 vs. January 2005
Searches Jan-05(Billions) 4.95
Searches Jan-06(Billions) 5.48
Percentage Change 10.7 percent

Still, Google reinforced its status January 2006 as market leader of the U.S. search market with a 41.4 percent share of all searches submitted, up more than 6 share points versus year ago. Yahoo maintained the number 2 spot in the ranking with 28.7 percent share of all searches, while MSN ranked third capturing 13.7 percent of all online searches.

Here are some additional findings from the January monthly analysis:

•Americans conducted 5.48 billion searches online in January, up 11 percent from the previous year. This growth reflects a substantial slowdown from the 42 percent surge seen in January 2005 versus the previous year.

•Google Sites led the group with 2.3 billion searches followed by Yahoo Sites (1.6 billion searches), MSN-Microsoft Sites (752.5 million searches), Time Warner (432.6 million searches), and Ask Jeeves (307.3 million searches).

•Google Sites won top honors in share of tool bar search, capturing 49.5 percent of all tool bar searches, while Yahoo! Sites secured 45.5 percent.

Tell me what you’re searching for….lisap@revenuetoday.com