Despite the small increase in number of Internet users in the US (only 3% more compared to 2004), the online searches made on available search engines increased by 55% to 5.1 billion in December 2005, a Nielsen/NetRatings statistic says.

"The double-digit increase in online search activity marks a significant milestone in the evolution of Internet consumer behavior," says Ken Cassar, senior director of analytics at Nielsen/NetRatings.

"Online search is the primary tool most people rely on to do everyday research," he added.

Unsurprisingly, Google is still the users' favorite and it even managed to increase its market share by 6 percent to 49%. Yahoo! and MSN recorded minor decreases, 0.3% for the first, and 3.1% for the latter.

All three online giants had two-digit increases in number of searches, but the Mountain View "Do no evil" company got the highest one. Google had 75% more searches compared to 2004, rising from 1,414,778 to 2,475,895, Yahoo! recorded a 53% leap, from 711,857 to 1,085,981, and MSN recorded the lowest increase (20%), from 460,377 to 553,476.

It will be interested to observe how the statistics stand at the end of 2006, this year starting off with criticisms aimed at Google for accepting censorship in order to enter on the Chinese market and with new rumors on the online giant's plans to build its own Internet in the US.