Google bosses have reacted angrily to what it sees as misuse of its company brand as the word "google" becomes more commonly used to refer to any search engine activity.

An indignant post on an official company weblog insisted that users can only "google" when they are on its website, when using Yahoo or any other search engine you are simply "searching".

Widespread use of the search engine giant's brand name as a verb will be bad for business, according to the post on Google Blog.

However, Michael Krantz, part of the Google Blog team, suggested that the use of the company's name is as "thrilling" for its marketing department as it is distressing for its trademark lawyers.

"While we're pleased that so many people think of us when they think of searching the web, let's face it, we do have a brand to protect, so we'd like to make clear that you should please only use 'Google' when you're actually referring to Google Inc and our services," Mr Krantz continued.

Still the largest search engine by a distance Google could face competition from the recent roll out from rival Microsoft, Windows Live.