Google Search Market Share Analysis

According to BofA Securities, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s US search market share improved in August, thanks to its ongoing AI integration into its search platform.

Statcounter data reveals that globally, Google’s market share in search fell slightly by 54 basis points (bps) month-over-month (m/m) to 90.5%. In the U.S., however, it increased by 50bps to 87.9%. Conversely, Bing’s U.S. share dropped 36bps m/m to 7.1%, although it experienced a 73bps rise year-over-year (y/y).

AI’s Role in Google’s Performance
AI has been identified as a crucial driver behind Google’s U.S. performance, with BofA indicating that the use of AI overviews is likely enhancing query growth.
BofA noted, “Since the start of the year, Google’s U.S. search share has increased by 31bps, suggesting AI overviews are positively contributing.” As Google rolls out this AI-driven format to additional regions, BofA anticipates a potential recovery in Google’s global market share, which has fallen by 114bps year-to-date.

Mobile and Desktop Searches
In terms of mobile search, Google’s global share dipped by 49bps m/m to 94.7%, while Bing’s mobile share increased slightly by 2bps to 0.8%. On the desktop side, Google’s global share decreased more significantly, down 68bps m/m to 79.7%, while Bing’s share rose by 15bps to 12.0%.

Traffic Trends
While generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT have seen growth, their web traffic remains a modest fraction of Google’s overall visits. As of August 31, web visits to Google rose 1% m/m to 2.7 billion, whereas ChatGPT registered a 17% m/m uptick to 96 million.
BofA also highlighted the popularity of ChatGPT and Gemini, with the latter experiencing a 159% m/m surge in app downloads, likely driven by back-to-school activities and the launch of SearchGPT.
Despite ChatGPT’s traffic increase, BofA stressed that combined web traffic from emerging AI search platforms remains below 0.2% of Google’s total visits. Among these, Perplexity.ai noted a 20% m/m increase in August traffic, whereas Claude experienced a 10% m/m drop.