Microsoft seemed, for a while, to be making a move in increasing search share via its Club Live site, but just released August search shares* seem to indicate a return to the pre-June status quo, writes Compete's Jeremy Crane (via MarketingCharts).

After gains in June and July, MSN/Live search market share (volume of search queries) lost nearly a point in August, according to Compete, though the absolute number of queries increased some 3 percent from the previous month.

Google, the dominant engine, accounted for nearly two-thirds of searches - its highest level ever - in August, up almost a point in market share, and up 3.5 percent in search volume, from July; both Yahoo and Ask shares were all but unchanged, according to the data.

Also, according to Compete:

• Google market share increased to its highest level yet with year-over-year gains in web search queries near 50 percent.
• Yahoo market share was flat despite a small increase in query volume.
• MSN/Live market share ticked down but remained near year-ago levels.
• Ask market share remained at July levels but was down from August 2006.

* Search market share includes web search only and is calculated based on unique queries within each session.