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Google accounted for 66.44 percent of US searches in the four weeks ended February 23, while Ask.com increased search share 18 percent year over year — from 3.52 percent of searches in Feb. '07 to 4.16 percent in Feb. '08, according to Hitwise, writes MarketingCharts.

Despite the steady incline, word has it that Ask may forgo use of its proprietary search engine in favor of Google's.

Yahoo Search and MSN Search received 20.59 percent and 6.95 percent of US searches, respectively, in February.

The remaining 46 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.87 percent, Hitwise said.

Google Source of Traffic to Key Industries

Search engines — in particular Google — remain the primary way internet users navigate to key industry categories.

From Feb. '08 to Feb. '07, double-digit increases were recorded in the share of traffic from search engines to the Travel, Entertainment, Business and Finance, and Sports categories.