Google and Yahoo! play 'mine is bigger than yours'

A spat has developed in the highly competitive world of internet search after Google, the world's largest online search company, and Yahoo!, which holds the No 2 slot, disagreed about which company has the largest search facility.

Yahoo! published a statement on its website last week saying its technology could cover more than twice as many web pages as its arch-rival. Google responded with a statement which was sceptical about Yahoo!'s claim.

According to Yahoo!, anyone who uses its search engine will be able to sift through a total of 20 billion online documents and images. That includes 19.2 billion web pages - more than many analysts had thought was within Yahoo!'s net and substantially higher than the 8.2 billion web pages Google's search engine uses.

Google responded by saying: "We welcome innovation in search, but we have not been able to verify a substantial increase to Yahoo!'s web index via their search results."

Both companies are rushing to make their search engines as comprehensive as possible, and to roll out new products in the struggle to gain market share. Generating searches is key for both companies because the requests spur revenue-producing ads alongside the results.

Other rivals are also keen to increase their presence in the internet search market, with Bill Gates recently promising to pour millions into MSN's search engine.

So far, Google has held competition at bay, retaining its slot as the undisputed favourite among internet search companies. According to Nielsen, which tracks web use, Google handled 47 per cent of web searches in the second quarter ofthe year, compared with Yahoo!'s 22 per cent.

"This is a great reason for more people to check us out," Yahoo's vice-president of products, Eckart Walther, said. "We are more comprehensive than anyone else out there."

While the size of the search engine is important, companies are also concentrating on honing their technology so that their searches produce the most relevant answers. The formulae used to collate and display internet search results are closely guarded secrets.

- INDEPENDENT