News Update: Yahoo urges Firefox users to switch from Google
Yahoo wants Mozilla Firefox users to keep Yahoo Search as their default search engine.
Yahoo became Firefox’s search engine of choice in December 2014, when the latter’s decade-long partnership with Google came to an end. As a result, many Firefox users were automatically switched to Yahoo.
In January, Google made efforts to win back the users it had lost. If a Firefox user who had Yahoo set as their search engine visited Google, a message would appear asking them to make Google their default search engine.
Yahoo has now adopted this approach itself.
Firefox users who have manually reset Google as their default search engine since December are confronted with the following message: “Yahoo is the preferred search engine for Firefox. Switch now.” Users can choose between two responses: “Yes” or “Not Now”.
Yahoo’s share of the UK search market
Since Firefox’s December switch, Yahoo usage in the UK has actually fluctuated. According to StatCounter, Yahoo’s share of the search market rose in December from 4.07 per cent to 4.11, fell back down in January to 4.0, then rose again in February to 4.03.
Yahoo now has just 3.88 per cent of the UK search market – its lowest since June 2014. This could indicate that Google has been successful in its attempts to win back at least some Firefox users.
Meanwhile at Bing
While Google and Yahoo fought for the loyalty of Firefox users, Bing’s share of the UK search market steadily increased. It went from 5.33 per cent in December to 5.56 in January, then up again to 5.7 in February.
Now, Bing’s share has dropped slightly – to 5.66 per cent.