Bing Takes, then Loses #2 Search Engine Spot

As expected, Bing, Microsoft's search decision engine, shot up the charts following its public debut and quickly became the No. 2 search engine behind Google. But before Microsoft could pop the champagne on what looked to be a stellar start, Bing bounced out of second place just one day later, conceding the No. 2 spot back to Yahoo.

More specifically, Bing claimed 15 percent of the U.S. search market on June 4th compared to Yahoo's 10 percent. But on June 5th, Microsoft's decision engine fell to 10 percent while Yahoo rose to just shy of 11 percent, enough to put it back in second place. As of yesterday, Bing had fallen to 6.68 percent while Yahoo rose to 11.33 percent, nearly a 5 percent difference between the two.

Bing continues to fall, checking in at 5.65 percent so far today. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft can reverse the downward trend now that the initial excitement has worn off, and justify spending between $80-$100 million advertising its decision engine.