Google (GOOG) lost a little bit of its prized search share in December according to Nielsen.

Compared with November numbers, Google’s piece of the US market fell from 57.7% to 56.3%. Microsoft’s (MSFT) part of the pie moved from 12% to 13.8%. But, MarketWatch writes that "in November, Microsoft began an effort to lure users to its search services by offering prizes such as T-shirts and video games." In other words, those people may not stick with Microsoft.

Yahoo! (YHOO) also lost share dropping from 17.9% to 17.7%. With its shares dropping close to $20, down from  52-week high of over $34, it cannot afford to fall any further. Maybe it needs to set up some contests to get people to use its search features.

Douglas A. McIntyre