The total number of US searches in April 2009 increased 4.4% year-over-year, with Google Search firmly holding the #1 search-provider spot when ranked by total searches, according to Nielsen Online, which said Google captured 5.5 billion total searches, or 64% of all search queries conducted during the month, MarketingCharts reports.

Yahoo Search ranked #2, but declined 2.8% YoY. MSN/Windows Live was #3.

Cashback Program Boosts MS/Windows Live

While Google still drives the majority of traffic to major e-commerce sites, Nielsen Online reported that MSN/Windows Live Shopping Search has been a notable fast-mover in the shopping search category, which also is tracked by Nielsen:

Searches on shopping-specific engines only comprise between one and two percent of total search activity, but MSN/Windows Live Search saw a 615% increase in total visitors and was the fastest growing shopping search provider in April. This increase is, in part, because of the popular and well-received Live Search Cashback program, in which the Microsoft promises to pay consumers back for purchasing products their search engine helped find.

MSN/Windows Live also has performed efficiently in translating searchers into customers. In Q109, the search engine claimed more efficiency than any other provider on a dollar-per-visitor basis, driving 8 % of visits and 12% of dollars to major e-commerce sites Nielsen found it is also was one of only two top 10 shopping search providers to grow its audience from April 2009 to April 2009.