Google Sites remained the top search property among the core search engines in November, according to figures from comScore.

Some 5.9 billion core searches were conducted via Google during the month, representing 58.6 per cent share of the search market, virtually the same as in October.

Yahoo Sites ranked second with 22.4 per cent, followed by Microsoft Sites with 9.8 per cent and Ask Network with 4.6 per cent.

Time Warner Network picked up 4.5 per cent of the market, recording the largest share point gain during the month at 0.3 points.

Americans conducted 10 billion searches at the core search engines, representing a five per cent decline on October. With one fewer days in the month, November can be a seasonally softer period for search activity, comScore said.

In the November analysis of the Top 50 properties worldwide where search activity is observed, Google Sites led the pack with 7.3 billion searches.

Yahoo Sites ranked second with 2.4 billion searches, followed by Microsoft Sites with 984 million, and Time Warner Network with 838 million.

As a result of search activity related to holiday shopping, eBay and Amazon Sites experienced an increase for the month, with 489 million and 178 million queries respectively.