Google was the U.S. market-share leader in search for July, with 36.5 percent of all searches, and Yahoo finished a strong second with 30.5 percent, according to research results issued Friday by ComScore Media Metrix, reports CNET.Yahoo's search toolbar remained in the lead, accounting for 51 percent of all toolbar searches. Some 11 percent of all U.S. searches began via toolbars, up from 8 percent in July 2004.

Third place went to MSN with 15.5 percent of searches; it had the biggest gain among the top search engines, having increased its share 30 percent from the year-ago period. AOL was fourth at 9.9 percent, and Ask Jeeves was fifth at 6.1 percent.

U.S. search volume in July - 4.8 billion - was up 22 percent from July 2004; and the top six search engines - Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Ask Jeeves and InfoSpace - accounted for 99.4 percent or all searches, up from 98.5 percent a year ago, writes Internet Retailer.