It’s not some industry secret that Google is the search engine to beat a formidable search engine. What began as a backrub has now morphed into a full-fledged powerhouse of search. But Silicon Valley can be somewhat of an insular place. Every day rumors fly about this start up, or that maverick VC or some crazy idea that is gonna change the whole game. But in the case of Google and market dominance, how much of it is just talk, and how much of it is real?

Turns out, it’s real.

The above image comes to us from the analysts over at Web-traffic research firm Hitwise. According to their numbers (and spiffy chart) Google claims 70.8 percent of all U.S. searches as of July. This is an up tick from the 60 percent share they held in July 2006.

Beyond the big data for the almighty G, things get a little depressing when we look at also-rans MSN Search and Live.com. In spite of the fact that their product has undergone continuous reworking over the past three years, Microsoft has steadily lost share as Google has grown voraciously. Think Bill Gates is trying to get the anti-trust guys that investigated him to turn their eyes on Mountain View?

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