Internet juggernaut Google Inc. gained search market-share over its rivals for the month of August, while its closest competitor Yahoo Inc. decreased slightly, the latest research indicates.

Internet research firm, ComScore Networks, reported on Tuesday that Google sites regained some ground from the 1.0 share point decline suffered in July, gaining 0.4 share points to capture 44.1 percent of the U.S. search market.

Yahoo! sites maintained its second place ranking with 28.7 percent of U.S. searches, however the firm suffered a slight decline in share, dropping from 28.8 percent in July, and a full percentage point lower than it achieved in August of 2005.

Overall, Americans conducted 6.5 billion searches online in August, up 3 percent versus July, the firm states. Annual growth rates in search query volume remained strong with a 28-percent increase since August 2005.

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