Could Bing Overtake Google in 2012? [CHART]

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According to the latest data from Experian Hitwise, Google was responsible for 64.42% of searches in the U.S. in March, 2011. Bing-powered search -- which includes both search.yahoo.com and bing.com -- accounted for 30% of U.S. searches.

The fact that Bing has crossed the 30% mark in the U.S. is significant in and of itself. Looking back through Experian Hitwise's archives underscores the tremendous amount of growth for Bing-powered search. The rate of growth appears to be increasing.

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Last October, Experian Hitwise reported that Google controlled 72.15% of the U.S. search market for September, 2010. Bing powered search accounted for 23.64%. In the last six months, Bing's market share in the U.S. is up to 30%. Moreover, Bing.com, which represented just 10% of searches in September 2010, represented 14.32% of searches in March, 2011.

Google still clearly leads Bing more than 2 to 1. But when you consider that that ratio was 3 to 1 last fall, the gap appears to be closing. Bing is growing by five or six percent each month, whereas Google is losing two to three percent.

So what would happen if that trend continued?

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We decided to graph out the answer to that question. In this scenario, Google drops 3% of its market share each month, while Bing gains 5% each month. Of course, this assumes sustained growth and sustained losses on the parts of both search engines. In a volatile market, it is extremely unlikely that we'll see these exact numbers over the next year.

But if you do assume a constant trajectory, Bing will overtake Google in less than a year -- January 2012, to be precise.

What isn't hypothetical is that Bing has real momentum. After years of referring to Google as "the search giant", it looks as if there is a serious contender for that title -- and we could be heading towards an era dominated by two search superpowers.