Google Blog Search has overtaken Technorati’s market share in the United States according to LeeAnn Prescott of Hitwise. The success of the Google Blog Search is hand-in-hand with Google leveraging existing properties such as Google News and the Google homepage to drive traffic to its new property. Google Blog Search launched in September 2005.

Hitwise market share Technorati Google Blog Search late 2006

Technorati is the green line above, and Google Blog Search is shown in purple. Google Blog Search received a huge traffic boost in October after blog search appeared as an option on Google News pages. Google Blog Search later received a spot on the front page of Google.com, gaining the top spot on the expanded “more” services menu.

Full image of Google homepage showing search dropdown

The dreaded Google search box or Google OneBox integration can be a death blow to many Internet startups. Google Blog Search is now better able to tap into Google’s over 108 million unique users in the United States, delivering a targeted and very focused index.

Age breakdown of US visitors to Technorati and Google Blog Search

I was especially surprised by Hitwise’s estimate of the age breakdown of Google Blog Search and Technorati. Google Blog Search is most popular with users age 18-24 while Technorati is most popular with users 35-44. The Hitwise age group breakdowns are similar to comScore numbers from June placing 36% of Technorati’s users between 35 and 54 years of age even though 30% of Technorati’s traffic was from MySpace at the time.