New Microsoft search engine Bing had a pretty hot month in June, growing an average rate of 25 per cent each week. At the same time, Google too got bigger, increasing its dominance over the search market from the previous year.

Bing was unveiled last month amidst plenty of buzz. The new search engine promises more accurate and detailed results than its rivals Google and Yahoo, and clearly many felt Microsoft's promises were genuine. According to reports, Bing owned about 5.25 per cent of the total American online search engine market last month, the first 30 day period of its release. Bing grew about 25 per cent each week over that time, says industry research firm Hitwise. (Source: eweek.com)

Google Grows, Yahoo...Not So Much

Although you can't help but be impressed with Bing's debut, the festivities hardly affected the market dominance of Google, which saw its share expand from an impressive 69 per cent to a simply daunting 74 per cent.

Yahoo remained firmly "in the game" with 16.2 per cent of the market, but that's down from its 20 per cent last year. Poor 'ol Ask.com, which has been around for several years, is already beaten by Bing. Ask pulled in 3.15 per cent of the market last month. (Source: wsj.com)

"We are going to have to be tenacious..."

Of course, there are big differences between Bing and Ask. For one, Microsoft is pouring big cash into its new search engine -- reportedly up to $100 million in market alone. The improvements in popularity for Bing over the old Live Search are marginal thus far, but company CEO Steve Ballmer remains confident the venture will pan out in the end.

"We have had some very good initial response," Ballmer said. "I don't want to over-set expectations. We are going to have to be tenacious and keep up the pace of innovation over a long period of time."