If you’re part of the search community (or haven’t been living under a rock), you surely know Google was declared a monopoly not long ago by the DOJ, ahem… the US Department of Justice.
But if this is news to you, let me catch you up!
Long story short, Google was entering agreements with companies like Apple and device manufacturers to ensure they were the default search engine on most devices (phones, computers, etc.) These agreements limited competition and, of course, made Google dominate search devices, search advertising, and general search text advertising.
What does this mean for the SEO community?
Right now, it means nothing. While Google was declared a monopoly, the real impact depends on how the DOJ is going to act. Whether that is implementing regulations or well, tearing apart Google.
Still, there are some really interesting takeaways from Eli Schwartz’s newsletter on the topic, which by the way you should subscribe to if you want to learn more about SEO in a more strategic and big-picture way:
1️⃣ Google is as dominant in search as everyone thinks it is: It has 89.4% of the total search market, which climbs to 94% on mobile.
2️⃣ It will be tough for a new search engine—even one as popular as ChatGPT—to take search share from Google even with a better product. People Google out of habit.
3️⃣ Google does not consider any other search engine a competitor, but it does view social media and vertical search engines like Amazon as competition.
4️⃣ Bing is as good as Google, but it can’t break through because of habits and Google’s default relationships.
5️⃣ Google’s default relationships with Apple and others allowed it to become the Google of today; without them, another engine might have been able to grow.
6️⃣ Google pays Apple, but Apple would likely still use Google as the default search engine even if they wouldn't.
7️⃣ Most users search through a default like Chrome or Safari and don’t go to Google
8️⃣ How Google works (specifically from the verdict.) Google uses AI to understand the intent of queries, then classifies all queries by a vertical, and decides which queries deserve freshness and which websites need to be refreshed. This is a hint of a crawl budget.
9️⃣ User data is Google's most powerful weapon, and according to the verdict, this feedback loop keeps Google ahead of every other entrant.
1️⃣0️⃣ According to Google and the court, we are still in the early days of AI, and LLM’s will not replace search.
1️⃣1️⃣ Google used its monopoly power to raise prices on advertisers, and when it conducts pricing tests, it doesn’t consider that advertisers may flock to a competitor.
For anyone worried that SEO isn’t relevant anymore, here’s proof that Google is still a giant in the game. Despite all this legal drama, it’s clear ChatGPT, Bard, and other AI tools aren’t a threat to Google and (regardless of any penalties) Google will remain the dominant search engine.
What are your thoughts on Google’s monopoly?
Any predictions?
