March UK search market: Google halts Bing’s recent rise

March UK search market: Google halts Bing’s recent rise

Since October 2014, Google has seen its UK search market share increase for the first time. In contrast to Bing, which previously seen its share increase in line with Google’s decline, suffered a reversal of fortunes as its share dropped from 7.16% to a staggering 7.09%.

Throughout February, Google’s share dipped from 88% to 87.97% which has been its lowest user percentage in the last two years. However, throughout March, it has now climbed straight back up to 88.12% after a successful month.

Although Yahoo have made strong efforts in trying to tempt Firefox users away from Google in the last month, Yahoo continue to flounder on 3.61%. Google continue to dominate the section of the UK mobile market, with 93.79% compared to Yahoo’s 4.6% and Bing’s 1.37%.

March search news

In addition to clawing back some of its market share, Google also announced a number of developments. These included improvements to Knowledge Graph and Webmaster Tools, as well as the launch of an AdWords app for Android and the upcoming arrival of the much-discussed mobile algorithm.

Site owners were also warned against using doorway pages to try and manipulate search visibility.

March search trends

The solar eclipse attracted a lot of search volume during March, as people rushed to catch a glimpse of the rare event. Searches included the time of the eclipse and places to get special glasses in order to view the phenomenon safely.

Controversial former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson also figured highly, experiencing two search peaks during the month. The first came when the media first published details of the now infamous “fracas” involving Clarkson and producer Oisin Tymon, and the second when BBC Director General Tony Hall elected to sack the star in the wake of the incident.

Other entertainment stories that attracted interest during March were the BBC’s record-breaking Comic Relief show and pop star Zayn Malik quitting boyband One Direction.