Back up over 80%, that is.

Remember the days of Bing’s launch? Microsoft retooled Windows Live Search and unveiled it as a challenger to Google. It was further enhanced by the well-timed acquisition of Yahoo!, which combined to make a formidable competitor.

In the month following Bing’s launch, things were looking bright, according to the boys in Redmond.

We’re gratified to report that there has been some great interest in trying out Bing and that those experiences are yielding positive results!   We saw 8 percent growth in unique users to Bing.com in June, which is an important indicator that you are trying Bing and the word is spreading. Based on our own polling, we have also seen the number of people “likely to recommend” Bing double in our debut month.

TechCrunch also did a comparison between Bing and Wolfram Alpha, noting a promising trend:

Searches for “Wolfram Alpha” began to build up the weekend that it soft launched on May 15, peaking the following Monday… Interest in Bing, on the other hand, started out just as strong [as Wolfram's peak] with its unveiling last week. Then when it actually launched, interest shot up even higher. The positive experience many people had with their first search certainly helped.

By all measures, a great success!

Then the hype died down, and everything returned to normal. September’s analytics indicate that Google once again owns more than 80% of the search market. And the flip side?

Bing’s usage share in the US descended by 1.13% to 8.51% for the month of September, while Yahoo’s dove 1.1% to 9.4%. Google’s share among the top three has now climbed above where it stood in May (78.72%), when Microsoft changed the name of Windows Live Search.

Well, it was fun while it lasted, fellas. Better luck next time?

Ed note: Did someone say Bing Bang?