US Google Search Share Powered by AI: BofA By Investing.com

Google’s (NASDAQ: ) ( GOOG ) U.S. search market share improved in August, helped by its continued integration of AI into its search platform, according to BofA Securities.

Statcounter data shows that Google’s global market share in search fell slightly by 54 basis points (bps) month-on-month (m/m) to 90.5%, but in the US, it rose 50 bps at 87.9%. On the other hand, Bing’s share in the US fell 36 bps y/y to 7.1%, although it gained 73 bps year-on-year (y/y).

AI appears to be a key factor in Google’s performance in the US, with BofA pointing to the company’s use of AI overviews as likely driving query growth.

“Year-to-date, Google’s US search share is up 31 bps, suggesting that AI analytics is contributing positively,” BofA noted. As Google continues to expand this AI-powered format into more regions, BofA expects a potential recovery in Google’s global market share, which has fallen 114 bps year-to-date.

In mobile search, Google’s global share fell 49 bps m/m to 94.7%, with Bing’s mobile share gaining just 2 bps to 0.8%. On the desktop side, Google’s global share fell more significantly, down 68 bps m/m to 79.7%, while Bing’s share climbed 15 bps to 12.0%.

While generative AI platforms like ChatGPT have gained popularity, their web traffic remains a fraction of Google’s. The data shows that as of August 31, web visits to Google rose 1% m/m to 2.7 billion, while ChatGPT grew 17% m/m to 96 million.

BofA also pointed to the growing popularity of ChatGPT and Gemini, with the latter posting a 159% m/m increase in app downloads, likely fueled by back-to-school activities and the launch of SearchGPT.

Despite the increase in ChatGPT traffic, BofA noted that combined web traffic from emerging AI search platforms remains below 0.2% of all Google visits. Of these, Perplexity.ai saw a 20% m/m increase in August traffic, while Claude’s traffic fell 10% m/m.