Today, comScore released its January 2011 search engine rankings, which reveal that the year is off to a strong start for Bing. Microsoft sites' share of explicit core search queries rose 13 percent month-over-month.

Today, comScore released its January 2011 search engine rankings, which reveal that the year is off to a strong start for Bing. Microsoft sites' share of explicit core search queries rose 13 percent month-over-month.

According to the report, Google still maintains a strong lead in the search market, with Google sites accounting for 65.6 percent of explicit core searches. Nonetheless, the search giant's share declined 1 percent month-over month. Meanwhile, Microsoft sites gained 1.1 percent of explicit core search share, representing 13 percent of the market. Bing-powered search on Yahoo sites also showed growth, with Yahoo sites fielding 16.1 percent of explicit core queries.

Combined, Yahoo and Microsoft sites account for an even greater share of the total core search market. Yahoo represented 17.9 of total core searches, where Microsoft accounted for 12.8 percent. This puts Bing-powered total core searches at 30.7 percent. While this is still a far cry from Google's 64.6 percent of total core searches, Microsoft's search engine is undeniably gaining ground.

Marketers might more seriously consider optimizing their sites for Bing in light of this news. Bing's ascent is also supported by the latest Hitwise data. As Brafton reported, Bing searches rose 21 percent in January by Hitwise's measure.

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.