If you wanted to find something on the web back in the late 1990s, you'd use Alta-Vista. Then two Stanford University graduate students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, came up with a better idea for searching -- an algorithm called PageRank. They launched a new search program called Google. Within a year, they had 60% of the search market, and by 2000, with the addition of AdWords, Google owned the search market, lock, stock, and barrel.

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It reached its highest point, according to StatCounter, in May 2023, with a 93.11% share of the market. Things have changed. Today, Google Search still dominates, but its global search market share has fallen below 90%.

A look at the stats

According to StatCounter, which tracks traffic to mostly smaller sites, Google's global search engine market share dropped below 90% in the final quarter of 2024, averaging around 89.7% from October through December. Its numbers haven't improved. In April 2025, StatCounter still had Google below 90% at 89.66%. The last time Google Search was this low was in 2015.

Now, StatCounter data should be taken with a grain of salt. It doesn't track nearly as much of the web as it once did. Still, StatCounter isn't the only service reporting that Google no longer has such an iron grip on search. By Statista's count, Google Search's desktop market share is now down to 79.1%.

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By StatCounter's count, Google's overall market share has dipped even further in the US, falling to 87.39% in December 2024 after peaking at 90.37% in November. Throughout 2024, Google's US share fluctuated between 86% and 88%. In April 2025, Google's market share was 86.73%. Like Statista, StatCounter shows that Google's decline is much more pronounced in desktop searches, where Google's share has dropped below 80% -- by StatCounter's April numbers, 79.35%.

Mind you, most companies would kill to have a market share like that, but Google isn't just any company. Since Google entered the market, it has been the search top dog. The only other company that's managed that kind of control has been Microsoft with Windows.

Google has accomplished it the same way Microsoft did -- not by being the best service but by maintaining a monopoly. Just like Microsoft, Google is now facing the music in the courts.

However, Google's search share dip isn't the result of legal action. Instead, ever so slowly, its competitors -- Microsoft Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo -- have gained some of Google's lost share, though their gains are modest. By Statista's metrics, Bing is now solidly in second place with 12.21%, followed by Yahoo with 2.97%, and Yandex with 2.9%. DuckDuckGo, even though its backers have been promoting it heavily with ads, is still back in the pack with 0.99%.

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What about AI-driven platforms such as ChatGPT and Perplexity? While they're attracting attention, according to StatCounter and Statista's measurement methods, their impact on the overall search market share remains limited.

What I use for search

However, these web traffic analysis sites cannot track these AI chatbots when used primarily as search engines. Many of my colleagues and I now use Perplexity for search because it uses contextual search to bridge the gap between traditional search engines and LLMs -- without all the ads. I outline my other reasons here. That said, Semrush, owner of Search Engine Land, conducted a recent survey of ChatGPT queries and found that only 30% of ChatGPT prompts were classic searches. In terms of overall search traffic, ChatGPT would still be below 1% of the search market.

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That said, Google seems to be losing its iron grip on search. That appears to be happening as there is growing criticism of Google's search results. Users frequently complain about the prominence of ads and AI-generated summaries, pushing organic results further down the page. Some users are also frustrated by the reduced effectiveness of search operators and an increase in low-quality or scam results. According to technology business maven Ed Zitron, this was due to Google deciding to follow a Rot Economy model, which valued profits over reliability.

Could Google make a comeback? Sure. Will it? It may not get the chance. Google could be forced to shed its Chrome web browser or break its search engine agreements with Apple and Mozilla. Or perhaps, like Microsoft before, Google will get off with a slap on the wrist and return to dominating its market. Stay tuned.

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