Microsoft's search engine Bing managed to increase its share of the American search market by 4 per cent in February, according to new figures.

Data released by Experian Hitwise showed Bing climbing 4 per cent in the four weeks ending February 27, finishing the month with a 9.7 per cent share of the total US search market.

Google slipped slightly from 71.49 per cent to 70.95 per cent, but remains far and away the largest player in the search engine market.

There was no change for Yahoo, which remains in second place ahead of Bing with a 14.57 per cent share. Fourth placed Ask.com however managed to make the largest gain of all, increasing its percentage share from 2.64 to 2.84 – a jump of 8 per cent.

According to Experian, a further 73 search engines shared the remaining 1.94 per cent slice of the market between them.

The results will be welcome news for Bing, which launched a multi-million pound television advertising campaign in the UK on Wednesday. The firm is aggressively looking to build on its position and get its hands on Google’s lion’s share.