The number of online searches conducted on some 60 U.S. search engines in January reached 5.70 billion - the highest number on record for a single month - 39 percent more than January 2005's 4.09 billion, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. From December 2005 to January 2006, the number of online searches jumped 12 percent, up from December's 5.07 billion. The year-high in 2005 was October's 5.13 billion. The top three search engine's share of searches remained relatively flat.

From January to January, Google and Yahoo rose a percentage point each, while MSN Search declined nearly two percentage points.

Google's share increased to 48.2 percent in January '06, up from 47.1 percent in January '05; Yahoo accounted for 22.2 percent of searches, up from 21.2 percent; and MSN's share was 11.0 percent, down from 12.8 percent a year earlier.