Google accounted for 64.35 percent of all US searches in the four weeks ending July 28, nearly four points more than the comparable period a year earlier, according to Hitwise, MarketingCharts reports.

Also according to Hitwise:

• Yahoo Search received 22.31% of searches in July (nearly unchanged from last year).
• MSN Search accounted for 8.79% (a significant 3 percentage points more than last year).
• Ask.com's share of searches was 3.21% (nearly unchanged from last year).

The remaining 48 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.52% of US searches, the online research firm said.

While search engines remain the primary way for internet users to navigate to key industry categories, Google's share of that traffic has been increasing significantly, according to Hitwise:

The Travel, News and Media, Entertainment, and Business and Finance categories received double-digit increases (comparing July 2007 to July 2006) in their share of traffic coming directly from search engines.