Google Inc. leads in online search, but its Web browser toolbar fell to second place in November to Yahoo Inc.'s plug in, a research firm said Friday. Yahoo sites received 48.5 percent of toolbar searches, edging out Google's 46.4 percent, ComScore Networks said. Toolbars are offered free by portals and search engines as a way to lure consumers directly to their sites, without having to type a URL in the browser.

While Yahoo's win is worth noting, toolbars only account for 12 percent of all searches, ComScore said. Google in November remained the market leader in the United States, accounting for 38.9 percent of all searches. Yahoo was second with 29.5 percent, followed by Microsoft's MSN, 14.2 percent. Rounding out the top five were fourth-place Time Warner Network and Ask Jeeves.

Overall, Americans conducted 5.15 billion online searches in November, up 9 percent from the same period in 2004.