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Research from Hitwise reveals Yahoo!'s share of executed searches in the UK has risen to seven per cent, level with MSN. However, Google continues to dominate, with 77 per cent.

These figures are based on the number of searches on the UK and .com properties of the big four search engines for the four weeks ending 20 May.

Together, the UK search sites of Google, MSN, Yahoo! UK & Ireland and Ask.com powered 82 per cent of all UK searches. When the .com properties are added, this number climbs to 96 per cent.

Visitors to Google UK stayed for an average of 12 minutes and 30 seconds in the week ending 20 May; two minutes and 46 seconds more than visitors to Yahoo! UK & Ireland Search, which had the second-longest session duration.

Google is the most visited web site across all categories in the UK, receiving more than twice the number of visits as runner-up MSN's Hotmail.

However, according to Hitwise, while Google dominates the search sector, some of its recently launched non-search services are attracting more interest in terms of column inches than new users.

Google Finance is ranked 201 in the 'Business & Finance, Business Information' category, with only 0.04 per cent of visits.

In contrast, Yahoo! UK & Ireland Finance is ranked number one in the same category, with an 8.3 per cent market share in the week ending 20 May.

"Google is the undisputed favourite in search in the UK. However, Yahoo! and MSN are much more popular for other services," said Heather Hopkins, director of research for Hitwise UK. "Consumers are moving among these three internet brands and seem to clearly distinguish the users of each one. UK consumers use Google to search, MSN to communicate and Yahoo! for content."

Eighty five per cent of UK visits were to either the UK or US search engine. By contrast, Yahoo!'s portal and its email service are its strongest properties, with 30 per cent of visits to Yahoo!'s top 20 properties going to the UK or .com portal and 31 per cent going to the UK or .com mail site.

Meanwhile, MSN's strength lies in its communication services, with MSN's email offering, Hotmail, accounting for nearly half (44 per cent) of visits to MSN's top 20 properties.