"With the continued evolution of the search market, it has become clear there is a need to expand the way we think about search," said James Lamberti, comScore senior vice president of search solutions. "qSearch 2.0 gives the most comprehensive and accurate view of the entire search market by including all forms of search that are being monetized currently or could be monetized in the future."

The comScore qSearch 2.0 service will now provide clients with the ability to discern whether the search originates from a text box on a search engine portal, an auto-search typed in the browser's URL line, a search from a text box on a downloaded search toolbar, local search, or a partner site. The expanded search universe will progressively add the ability to view search within a collection of vertical sites such as shopping, travel, or careers.

"comScore is leading the way in measuring a search landscape heavily affected by Web 2.0. qSearch 2.0 adapts to the blurring of 'classic search' and enables clients and research analysts to evaluate the newly emerging players and the new types of searches that can potentially have significant monetization opportunities," Abraham noted.

comScore's qSearch 2.0 interface will provide clients with an in-depth view of the search universe in the U.S. and worldwide that encompasses:

• Core Search Engines -- the five major U.S. search engines (i.e. Google Sites, Yahoo! Sites, Microsoft Sites, Ask Network and Time Warner Network).
• Top 50 properties worldwide where search activity is observed, which includes sites such as MySpace, Baidu, and Naver.
• Major "vertical" search locations -- such as eBay and Amazon in retail and Expedia in travel.
• Partner Search -- searches initiated at partner sites that redirect the visitor to a search engine site.
• Cross-Channel Search -- counts multiple searches when employing more than one search tab (e.g. Web, images, news) for a single search term.
• Local Search -- maps, directions, and local directory listings.
• Worldwide Search -- includes comprehensive reporting of worldwide search, with individual country reporting for the U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., France, Germany, Japan, China, and Korea. Additional countries will follow.