While Yahoo and Bing are gaining a bit on Google on the battlefield of Internet search, neither is likely destined to knock the leader off its perch now or anytime soon.
Google's main threat, says one industry watcher, will likely be the next big innovation in search technology.
"A few points will not make Google go away or become an afterthought," David A. Steinberg, CEO of Zeta Interactive, told Tech Times in an email interview.
"The only thing that will unseat Google as the top dog will be some new and innovative tech that will get people to the results they want better than what Google is doing now, i.e., Facebook really building a search platform for the web that includes your social graph," Steinberg explained.
Yet some moves by browser makers could have some impact on market share. Just as 2014 ebbed to a close, Mozilla removed Google as the default search engine on its Firefox Internet browser. Mozilla struck a deal with Yahoo, making it the default search platform for Yahoo users.
Early December brought rumors Apple may be mulling whether to designate Bing as the default search engine on its Safari desktop browser. Apple has already switched in Bing as the default on the mobile version of Safari and did not renew its deal with Google, which was set to expire this month.
While these browser switch-outs will benefit Bing and Yahoo, the moves likely won't make a big dent in Google's huge market share of 75.2 percent of search referrals.
"Given Google's current market share, I believe Google's days are not numbered," said Michael Dub, chief scientist and partner at DXagency, a services strategies providers. "In addition, Google's other products (AdWords, YouTube, etc.) will always provide support and a built-in audience to support their search engine."
According to the latest U.S. search market figures released by StatCounter, Bing is sitting in second place for search referrals with 12.5 percent and Yahoo third with 10.4 percent.
