The competition is intense, but Google still dominates the search engine market, drawing far more search users, requests and ad revenues than all its rivals put together, reported eMarketer.

The New York-based research firm estimates that Google raked in 75 per cent of US paid search advertising in 2007, up from 60 per cent in 2006. Number two, Yahoo, collected a mere nine per cent share, while all others divided 16 per cent of the leftovers.

But with over $8.6 billion going to search engine advertising in 2007, that 16 per cent stake still equals nearly $1.4 billion, noted eMakreter. And with search spending expected to nearly double to almost $16.6 billion in 2011, even a small piece of the pie represents serious revenue.