Recent search data from Experian Hitwise, comScore, and, most recently, Compete, all indicate that Bing is gaining market share. Interestingly, the data also shows that Google’s market share has dropped slightly. According to Stefan Weitz, a director with Bing, the search engine has grown every month since its launch.

“It means that people are giving us a try, they’re finding a good experience, and they keep wanting to use it,” he said told us.

The increasing market share is likely a result of Bing’s continuous innovations. For instance, realizing the power of location and “deals,” Bing partnered with DealMap in an effort to bring the very best deals to users. Bing deals give users insight into what the best deals are and what deals are trending, all from one location.

Another initiative that Bing is working on is a new approach to personalization. In the past, personalization relied on collaborative filtering, which made determinations based on user preferences. For example, if person A and person B liked the same item, Bing could assume that person A would like other items that person B liked.

While this model has worked in some areas, it lacks efficiency in areas such as breaking news. As a result, Bing is working on Project Emporia, which is powered by its Matchbox technology. This new approach focuses on viewing the Web in the context of a collection of objects called “features,” instead of viewing it as a Web of pages.

“It’s a fundamentally, new approach to how we think about personalizing search and personalizing results,” said Weitz.

Bing is also working to improve social search. Search engines, previously, found it difficult to identify who users were and what their network of friends was. Now, however, social media behavior has helped them to understand these elements and tie them into search.

“Now, we’re able to actually bring that behavior that you do everyday in your normal life into search,” Weitz pointed out.

Although Bing is excited about its recent innovations and its growing market share, it doesn’t consider the other search engines to be losing the battle. Weitz believes that the developments in social search, mobile search, and personalization, actually “expand the pie” for everyone in the search game.

What are your thoughts on Bing’s progress and innovations in the search market? Does Bing have the potential to dominate search market share in the future?