Google is the most popular target for search engine optimization (SEO), and with the latest search engine market share report from Experian Hitwise, it doesn’t look as if that will change any time soon.

According to Experian’s latest report, Google accounted for 71.4 percent of the total searches in the United States in April, up 2 percent from March 2010. Google’s top three competitors – Yahoo, Bing, and Ask – all fell month-over-month. Yahoo, Bing, and Ask made up 15, 9.4, and 2.2 percent of searches, respectively.

Search engines continue to be the most popular way for consumers to navigate the internet. In April 2010, the automotive, business and finance, entertainment, news and media, shopping, and social networking industries showed double-digit increases in traffic from search engines.

Experian’s report also showed that keeping keywords short and simple is key when modifying a site for search engine optimization (SEO). According to the report, searches that were one, two, and three words long made up more than 65 percent of the total searches.

Last week, Yahoo announced a new ad campaign designed to drive traffic to their search engine. The campaign labels Yahoo as a one-stop internet destination.

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.