Turkish Competition Authority’s Post

Here's the million-dollar SEM question: How do you maximize ad spend and growth when Google is PLAYING the game, setting the rules… …and, alarmingly, acting as the referee. Google operates one of the largest financial markets with $240 billion in ad revenue. As you can probably imagine, this staggering number raises a lot of red flags.  🚩How transparent are Google’s relationships with advertisers? 🚩Is fairness a part of Google’s operational ethos, given that it has overwhelming market control? 🚩Can Google REALLY remain unbiased as both a market maker and an active participant? We got some answers to these questions in the recent Google antitrust case. “We are shaking the cushions.” “We tend not to tell advertisers about pricing changes.” ^ These statements from the search engine giant expose a chilling disregard for the very businesses that fuel Google's financial engine. Here lies the paradox: Everyone is angry about this, but they’re still playing by Google’s rules.  And yet, not everyone who follows the rulebook emerges victorious. So, if you want search visibility for your business (and you don’t have an unlimited budget), what on 🌎 do you do? 🔹 Instead of blindly following Google’s guidelines, strategically defy them. 🔹 Take every Google recommendation with a grain of salt—there’s always a profit motive behind it. 🔹 Remember that details matter, and mastering the intricacies of SEO and PPC will tip the scales in your favor. Don't let Google's monopoly dictate the future of your business. It's time to redefine the rules of the game on your terms. #SEMStrategy #PaidSearch #GoogleAds

Here's the million-dollar SEM question: How do you maximize ad spend and growth when Google is PLAYING the game, setting the rules… …and, alarmingly, acting as the referee. Google operates one of the largest financial markets with $240 billion in ad revenue. As you can probably imagine, this staggering number raises a lot of red flags.  🚩How transparent are Google’s relationships with advertisers? 🚩Is fairness a part of Google’s operational ethos, given that it has overwhelming market control? 🚩Can Google REALLY remain unbiased as both a market maker and an active participant? We got some answers to these questions in the recent Google antitrust case. “We are shaking the cushions.” “We tend not to tell advertisers about pricing changes.” ^ These statements from the search engine giant expose a chilling disregard for the very businesses that fuel Google's financial engine. Here lies the paradox: Everyone is angry about this, but they’re still playing by Google’s rules.  And yet, not everyone who follows the rulebook emerges victorious. So, if you want search visibility for your business (and you don’t have an unlimited budget), what on 🌎 do you do? 🔹 Instead of blindly following Google’s guidelines, strategically defy them. 🔹 Take every Google recommendation with a grain of salt—there’s always a profit motive behind it. 🔹 Remember that details matter, and mastering the intricacies of SEO and PPC will tip the scales in your favor. Don't let Google's monopoly dictate the future of your business. It's time to redefine the rules of the game on your terms. #SEMStrategy #PaidSearch #GoogleAds

⚖️📣 Earlier this month, a federal court ruled against Google in one of the first major antitrust cases in decades. If you rely on traffic from Google searches, your first question is probably “What does this mean for my business?” The next steps and full impacts of this case are unclear and likely won’t arrive for quite some time, but here’s what we know so far: ⭐ The case hinged on Google’s exclusive agreements to appear as the default search engine on various web browsers, plus Google’s use of user data to reinforce its market dominance. ⭐ The most direct implications will likely be on Google’s Ad products. A separate trial specifically about ads will begin in September. ⭐ There are reports that the court might move to break up Google Search, Android, and Chrome, ban default browser agreements, and/or enforce data sharing between Google and other search engines - but it’s still unclear if and when these developments will come. The SEO implications: Whatever comes next, we’re likely to see increased diversity in traffic sources. You may not think often about Bing or DuckDuckGo today, but there’s a good chance you will in the future. OpenAI’s newly announced search engine, SearchGPT, will also shake up the landscape in the coming years. 🎯 An adaptive, user-centric (not just Google-centric) SEO strategy will be more essential than ever. And if your business relies heavily on pay-per-click strategies to generate leads, you need to stay tuned into the developments on this front. It’s certainly an exciting time in the SEO world (more exciting than it’s been in years 🫠). We’ll keep you updated as the SEO implications of this case become clearer, but please let us know if you have any questions in the meantime! #googleantitrust #seonews #b2bmarketing

We are all so surprised…. 🙄… At the beginning of this August a US federal judge ruled that Google violated US antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in the search and advertising markets…. Wow… 😮…we are so “surprised”… 🙄 Well, we are clearly NOT surprised and we have all contributed substantially amounts of our digital marketing budgets to “feed the G Ads beast…” and cultivating the monopoly. The current issue is that apart from the fact that this a great victory to the US Department Of Justice, this case marks a critical moment in the U.S. government's efforts ( hopefully EU to follow ) to regulate and possibly dismantle monopolistic organizations like Amazon, Apple, and Meta, all of which are currently facing similar scrutiny. Going back to Google, this holds a potential to drastically change the Ads market the way we know it…. And this CAN be a real surprise to u Ranking factor transparency: Google might need to be clearer about ranking factors. Increased competition which may require more diverse SEO strategies but has a potential to decrease costs Service breakup which can lead to separation of Google services which will prevent possible cross impact (like Google organic search results imparted by Ads campaigns 🤔 … ) There many more potentially negative and positive implications to this. So if I need to speculate in the long run this is a positive move. In the short run this will shake our digital marketing boat And if you think you are going to pay less … think again …. 🫤 #Antitrust #DigitalMarketing #Google #Monopoly #SEM #TechRegulation #SEO #AdTech #Innovation #Competition #DigitalStrategy #EURegulation #MarketingTrends #GoogleAds #TechIndustry #BusinessStrategy

In “upholding the majority of the Commission’s findings”, the EU General Court confirmed today that Google dominates several markets in online #advertising. It found, however, that the Commission did not sufficiently assess the impact of certain contractual clauses in its 2019 #AdSense for Search prohibition decision. For those who have been following the EU’s abuse of dominance jurisprudence on exclusivity (𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭, 𝘘𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮 and 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘪𝘥), today’s annulment of the AdSense decision does not come as a surprise. 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 was the only EU case where I advised clients, including affected publishers, to stay away from - no complaints, no interested third-party status, no court intervention, not even an article from our side. The EC’s Preliminary Assessment of March 13, 2013, identified far more pressing concerns, in particular Google’s unauthorized use of original content from third-party websites (a topic still pressing today). Revenues from AdSense for Search represent only a tiny fraction of Google’s portfolio, far smaller than for the intermediation of display ads. After the original complainants, Microsoft and Ciao, withdrew their complaints in 2016, and Google removed the problematic clauses the same year, the EC should probably have redirected its resources (or combine the case with Android). Legally, it is sad to see that the (too?) strict requirements imposed in the 2017 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭 judgment for showing anti-competitive effects of exclusivity clauses now led to this outcome. However, while I would have preferred to see the EC fully prevail, it is more relevant that the Court confirmed the EC’s crucial definition of relevant advertising markets: (i) non-search-based, (ii) general search-based (text) ads, (iii) specialized search-based (product) ads, and (iv) intermediation of the search-based ads vs. direct sales. Such distinctions matter in several pending cases. They were most recently adopted by Judge Mehta in the US Google Search case and, as far as I can see, first described in my 2015 article, “Defining Markets for Multi-Sided Platforms: The Case of Search Engines.” https://lnkd.in/eSm9Tjsi #AdTech #antitrust

🚨 Important news: A federal judge ruled that Google violated antitrust laws by becoming the default search engine on major browsers, potentially disrupting digital advertising. The upcoming September trial will further examine Google's digital ad practices. 🔍 Madi Bachar, VP of Global Sales at MGID, noted that search advertising is currently the most effective at scale thanks to Google's dominance, which centralizes publishers' SEO efforts. If Google's position changes, publishers will need to adapt their SEO strategies to stay visible to users. More at 👉https://hubs.ly/Q02KgKLz0

It's not us, it's you! Google may be facing a break up of services from a ruling made by the DOJ (Department of Justice). A federal judge ruled that the company had illegally monopolised the online search market. A range of measures are being considered, including forcing Google to sell parts of its business, such as Chrome and Android. The DOJ also wants to open up Google's search and AI data to competitors. The judge is expected to rule on remedies by August 2025 and of course, Google is expected to challenge the timeline. The DOJ is expected to submit a more detailed set of proposals by November 20, 2024. Google has been the number 1 search engine for so long, it will be interesting to see exactly how this will affect other search engines such as Bing, Yahoo, Apple etc. The impact could be spectacular and I for one, will be I for one, will be watching with interest. If you want to find out more about SEO, or you want to understand how your site is ranking, then pop a comment below. Full article from Search Engine Journal can be read here: https://lnkd.in/eemgkRFU #SEO #Google #SERPs #Rankingfactors

Google General Search Investigation Decision Announcement The Competition Board concluded the investigation launched on 12.01.2023 concerning the allegation that the economic entity comprised of Alphabet Inc., Google LLC, Google International LLC, Google Ireland Limited and Google Reklamcılık ve Pazarlama Ltd. Şti. (Google) violated Article 6 of the Act no 4054 on the Protection of Competition by using its dominant position in the general search services market to obstruct the operations of other websites through some of the features it offered, and thereby abused its dominant position in the general search services market. On 25.06.2024, following the hearing held at the Competition Authority Headquarters, the Competition Board took its final decision on Google’s practices.   The investigation examined the allegations that various search features offered on Google’s desktop and mobile search results page, including “videos,” “people also ask,” “translation box,” “sports box” and “weather box,” pushed websites further down on the search results page and caused them to lose traffic.   As a result of the examination, the Board took the decision dated 04.07.2024 and numbered 24-28/682-283, ruling that while Google held dominant position in the general search services market, it did not abuse its dominant position in the general search services market through the search features it offered on the general search engine results page and therefore it was not necessary to impose administrative fines on Google.   To date, Google was imposed a total of 1.25 billion TL in fines within the framework of 4 investigations conducted by the Authority. In addition to the current investigation that was concluded without any fines, Google is currently under another investigation concerning allegations that Google, through various practices, favored its own products/services in the advertisement technology supply chain, where it operates in a vertically integrated structure, and that these practices involved * GOOGLE directing the demand coming from demand-side platforms (DSPs) to its own supply-side platform (SSP) services, and * GOOGLE favored its own SSP (AdX) through its publisher ad server.

How the DOJ ruling could reshape search 🚀Industry Insight from Suzanne Taylor, SEO Consultant🚀 Google is in the middle of a landmark antitrust case in the US following concerns about its dominance. A Department of Justice (DOJ) judge ruled that Google is violating antitrust laws by having a monopoly in the search market, and has done so for over a decade! What is the latest DOJ ruling? The latest DOJ ruling outlines potential solutions to level the playing field. These involve sharing more data with competitors, creating more competition and transparency in advertising, and allowing users more choice in their search engine experiences. The part gaining the most attention is around ‘structural remedies’ which implies Google may need to break up its products. This could mean products like Chrome, Play (Google’s app store) and Android are not set as the default in Google Search, for example. What would this mean for consumers?  Consumers may get more choice in search engines, features or products they use to search. This could be an opportunity for new online experiences and more diversity in content. However it could cause frustration as users will have to learn new platforms and ways to search. Google argues that splitting products would go against a seamless, connected experience. What would this mean for businesses and marketers? Businesses and marketers may need to consider bespoke strategies for different services and platforms. Whilst this could provide more diverse opportunities, particularly for SEO, it may add extra complexity and increased costs to advertising for example, as platforms look to gain independent revenue streams. How will this affect businesses in the UK and the EU? There is more regulation in place in the UK and EU. The Digital Marketing Act (DMA) is the European Union’s tech gatekeeper that has restrictions in place to ensure a fair market place for the digital sector. However if Google is forced to break up its products in the US, this may well have an impact on the UK and EU too, therefore the case is worth keeping close to. It has the potential to reshape the future of search, worldwide. #SEO #SearchEngineOptimisation #SEOMG #FutureOfSearch #DOJ #GoogleMonopoly

One of Google’s standard defenses in #antitrust investigations is that its measures would improve #search quality and that such product improvements were competition on the merit. The Department of Justice (#DoJ)’s recently published “findings of facts” confirm once more a different reality. Google has consistently 👎Increased ad space, at the expense of organic results that users are actually looking for. 👎Made ads look more like organic results. 👎Manipulated auctions to raise prices for ads (CPSs doubled within 10 years). 👎Ranked ads sub-optimally for more ad revenue. 👎Decreased transparency for advertisers so that they (even) bid for poor-matching keywords. Higher costs for advertisers are passed on to searchers, who are ultimately paying the price of a lack of competition or regulation in online search. Thus, the DoJ’s findings contradict claims of any product improvement and call for a firmer stance against Google’s abuses of dominance. The findings are a must-read for anyone active in digital marketing. #GoogleNonCompliance