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The World According to Google

posted on July 30, 2009


Finger WagI knew I should have done something to trademark a saying I use all the time with SMB owners and marketers that  “It’s a Google world and we’re just allowed to live in it.” Ad Age today echoes a similar sentiment in a headline about the fact that Google is not only a dominant player in the US but can be even more dominating around the world.

As we have noted recently, it’s not all of the world that has decided to bow at the feet of the search engine leader. China likes Google but nearly as much as Baidu. The chart below from comScore shows that if there is even a soft spot in the Google plot for world domination via search it is in some Asian countries. As for the rest of the planet well take a look.

AdAge 7.30.09 JPEG Chart

While we tend to let our jaws drop at just how big of a spread there is between Google at number one in US search engine share the European numbers will stop you dead in your tracks.

So if you’re Google you’re thinking that this is lock, right? Unfortunately for them, the apparent crushing of the competition in the European search market could work against them as Micro- bing- ahoo seeks the blessing of the EC. You know the EC. They’re the folks who hate it when someone uses free market thinking to win in business. While Europeans may use Google in such large numbers because it is the best option for them (they can choose bing or Yahoo today for search couldn’t they?) one can be sure that the EC will view that reality as something sinister or even cry monopoly. This should make it real easy for the new hybrid on the block (Yah-soo-soft?) to get past the fine folks who know better than to let people make choices based on their own personal needs and tastes. Ad Age says it more succinctly

Google’s dominance in Europe will likely be a strong part of its case when Microsoft and Yahoo seek the blessing of competition officials in Brussels for the deal.

So here’s the real question for those of you reading in European markets. Do you find Google’s dominance offensive? Does Google have such a large share of the market because there are no competent competitors or because it prevents competition? If there was a better option than Google would you use it or would you feel like you couldn’t because Google was ‘in the way’? Does the EC actually speak for you individually or is it hampering your ability to choose what you want?


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  • http://andreasnurbo.com Andreas Nurbo

    That people use Googles website aint anything that the EU will do anything about I think.
    Its only when this dominace is connected with something else like ads, or the dubious book scanning etc, that the EU will begin to grind their teeth. When Google releases its OS I’m sure both the US and the EU will start to question Googles dominance in the information gathering field. It will be a little much with a OS, webbased software and all search and information storage controlled by a single company.
    A company version of 1984.
    .-= Andreas Nurbo´s last blog ..New version of GWO plugin released =-.

  • http://www.katugasm2.co.uk Nigel Legg

    I think Andreas is correct – the EU will look into Google much more closely when the new OS comes out, and maybe at dominance of the SEO and search ad markets. Micro-hoo have a good argument in their favour, that htey are potentially breaking google’s search monopoly, though all the systems involved in the deal have been there already – all the deal does is to bring them all together. Given Bing ahoo have such small search share, there alliance will not be a problem for the EU competition comissioner.

  • http://juanderpulpinoy.com/ Jhelo Cruz

    Google is really doing great. The stats are not surprising thinking of the fact that Google is the number 1 search engine in the world.
    .-= Jhelo Cruz´s last blog ..My Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2009 =-.

  • http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com Nick Stamoulis

    It’s funny because when a company first launches and goes into business they don’t come to the table saying “I think I will dominate the world with what we offer”. They do their best, hope it works so everyone can do what they love and make some money and if they rise to fame than so be it. If anyone of us would have launched Google and had it’s success would want the same thing, to keep growing. Most of the people that complain about Google are upset they are not in the drivers seat. This is the way of the world, lead follow or get out of the way.
    .-= Nick Stamoulis´s last blog ..How Latency May Affect Your Web Rankings =-.

  • http://www.jakematthews.blogs.com Jake Matthews

    I always have a battle in my mind about google being evil. But then I also comment to myself that they are so big and so dominant b/c they do such a good job in so many areas of their products and service offerings. They may solutions that are easily accessible for a lot of people and that helps them build more and more dominance.

    Google’s consumer and business solutions perform really well and they are rewarded for that with greater market share. Google’s solutions and execution are pretty darn solid.

    As you astutely point out though, none of that is guaranteed.
    .-= Jake Matthews´s last blog ..Friday in July, NYC, 7pm =-.

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  • http://www.smstoalert.com George

    No doubt; Google is the undisputed leader..We need to wait and see if any one can over rule them in the short term!

  • Mikel Gimeno

    I’m from Spain and I can’t answer for all my fellows, but there’s something google does and it does it really well : to find the most relevant solution for what you need. And it hooks in such a way that you don’t want to do it with less powered engines (such yahoo or bing).

    It’s a question of choice, a personal choice. No one goes to google just because they have no other option. There was a time where microsoft tryed to impose Live search in all the ways the could (that’s in IE, messenger and staff) and people had to fight it to go google.

    I keep using google because no other option has been even close to what google does in terms of displaying relevant info.

  • http://wedmories.com thomas

    i think that right, Google show pretty pictures on their home page reminding people about interesting events – but they also want to own the world

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