Data recorded by visitor calculating service StatCounter Global Stats reveals Bing was the only one of the big three search engines to see a positive change in their UK search market share for September, jumping from 5.79 to 6.19 per cent.
In contrast, Google suffered a small drop, moving down from 88.82 to 88.75 per cent. Despite this, it has maintained a healthy dominance of the market, which as ever shows no sign of abating.
Yahoo has lost almost all of the market share it gained in August, slipping back under four per cent and falling further behind Bing.
The ‘Others’ category, of which AOL and Ask Jeeves take the biggest share, continues to take just a small slice that totalled 1.15 per cent in September.
Google continued the dominate the mobile arena with a 93.52 per cent share, although Yahoo and Bing did make small gains to end the month on 4.88 and 1.35 per cent respectively.
September search news
Google algorithm-watchers had plenty to keep them occupied in September, with both Panda and Penguin hitting the search headlines.
The most concrete piece of news came at the end of the month, as Google confirmed it had rolled out a Panda update that would affect 3-5 per cent of queries. This was big news for sites that were hit by the previous update in May, and has led some to speculate that this could signal a new quarterly update schedule for Panda.
Penguin also came under discussion as webmaster trends analyst John Mueller was forced to clear up confusion surrounding whether or not site owners would have to wait for an update in order to see any Penguin-related work take effect.
He initially appeared to suggest it would, but later backtracked in the wake of widespread frustration stemming from the fact that Penguin’s last update was in October 2013.
September search trends
There were plenty of news stories that attracted attention in September, from the Scottish independence referendum to Europe’s comprehensive Ryder Cup victory at Gleneagles.
However, the story that generated the most Google web queries of the month is one that has divided opinion across the world. At the start of September, nude images of various female celebrities were stolen and published online, prompting many people to rush online to catch a glimpse of the pilfered pictures before they were removed.
While many commentators and victims have been quick to condemn the situation, it seems they may be outweighed by those opting to sneak a peak, with three of the stars affected appearing in the top ten image searches for the month.
Apple’s two big September releases also generated a lot of search volume, with iOS8 the top search term for the month. The iPhone 6 also made the top five, doubtless in part because of the ‘bendgate’ controversy that saw users complaining the devices changed shape in their pocket.
The UK search market share stats for September, as provided by StatCounter Global Stats, are outlined below:
| UK Search Engine | September 2014 share (%) | August 2014 share (%) | Change |
| 88.75 | 88.82 | -0.07 | |
| Bing | 6.19 | 5.79 | +0.4 |
| Yahoo | 3.92 | 4.16 | -0.24 |
| Others | 1.15 | 1.23 | -0.08 |