Can Internet Search Survive Google Antitrust Ruling?

For nearly two decades, Google has been the undisputed king of internet search. However, the August 6, 2024 antitrust ruling by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has cast a long shadow over the search giant’s dominance. A federal judge found that Google illegally maintained a monopoly through anti-competitive practices.

As expected, Google will appeal the judgment, but it’s not clear whether that will overturn the ruling. We can’t write off a potential reversal given that Microsoft was able to upturn the antitrust ruling that found it too monopolistic with its operating system in 1999.

What is clear, however, is that such rulings often have far-reaching implications. Apart from seriously impacting Google’s advertising revenues, they raise critical questions about the future of Internet search.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. How Google Built and Sustained Search Engine Monopoly
3. Where Does the Antitrust Ruling Leave Google and SEO?
4. Ruling Could Cut Google Search from Alphabet
5. The Bottom Line
6. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. How Google Built and Sustained Search Engine Monopoly
3. Where Does the Antitrust Ruling Leave Google and SEO?
Show Full Guide
4. Ruling Could Cut Google Search from Alphabet
5. The Bottom Line
6. References

How Google Built and Sustained Search Engine Monopoly

Statcounter estimates that Google commands a 91% share in search engines across all devices, with a market share that has not dipped below 90% since 2014. This level of search engine dominance becomes more glaring when compared to Bing’s 3.8%, YANDEX’s 1.36, and Yahoo’s 1.24%.

How did Google come from being a company offering itself for acquisition in 1999 to a search engine superpower? The answer lies in the verdict read out by the Antitrust Ruling of August 6, 2024.

According to the ruling, the Alphabet-owned company has deployed several tactics over the past decade to establish and preserve its dominance.

Part of Google’s strategy involves the acquisition of key companies like YouTube, Android, and Waze. These acquisitions helped Google expand its reach across various digital platforms and increased its user base and data collection capabilities. These acquisitions not only solidified Google’s position in search but also provided valuable data to refine its algorithms and deliver more relevant search engine result pages (SERPs).

As the recent antitrust ruling reveals, another critical factor in Google’s monopoly comes from contracts with device manufacturers, mobile carriers, and internet service providers. These deals often involve lucrative financial incentives for making Google Search the default search engine on devices and browsers.

For instance, Google reportedly paid over $26 billion per year to Apple to make Chrome the default browser on iPhones and to secure its search engine as the default on browsers like Safari and Mozilla. Similarly, Google pays Samsung an undisclosed amount to be the default search engine on all its mobile phones.

According to the Judge’s ruling, Samsung receives 80% of its on-device search revenue from Google searches conducted through home screens and the pre-installed Chrome browser.

Where Does the Antitrust Ruling Leave Google and SEO?

Tech and SEO experts have different opinions on where the road leads for Google and the future of SEO practices.

Shubha Ghosh, Professor and Director, Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute at Syracuse University, New York, told Techopedia that the ruling came as no surprise — and could lead to a point where the court would force Google to rework some of its contracts with partners.

“The ruling could help move internet search into a purer regime where search companies can finance search engines without distorting them. The court will likely move to rework contracts with vendors and advertisers. But there is only so much the court can do.”

The ruling against Google, apart from its huge significance, shows the level of influence big tech companies like Google have over upcoming players, Gareth Cunningham, Director of SEO at Mod Op, told Techopedia in a chat.

“I think it reflects growing concerns about the influence of major players like Google & others and reminds us of the needed competition in the digital ecosystem to maintain fairness and balance across the board.”

Ben Poulton, SEO Consultant and founder at Intellar, thinks the ruling is fair enough. He maintains that while Google is a well-deserved leader in the space, “overtime that has sadly led to them being able to take advantage of promotional opportunities and, as a byproduct of that, even control narratives.”

Meanwhile, Jonathan Kagan, Director, Search and Media Strategy at Ansive Digital, shared a contrasting view with Techopedia.

Apart from declaring, “I view the ruling against Google as wrong,” he does not believe it will affect Google’s dominance in search. He argues that search is a consumer-driven project, and each search engine would need to find a way to lure users to its platform.

“Even if the appeal does not go in Google’s favor, it does almost nothing to search. Search is consumer-driven, and other search engines would need to find a way to convince users to use them more.”

Ruling Could Cut Google Search from Alphabet

The recent ruling, as analyzed by Michael Podolsky, CEO and co-founder of P*ssedConsumer, could cause Google Search to disentangle from its parent company, Alphabet.

Podolsky shared with Techopedia that if Google’s appeal fails, he sees a complete separation of Google Search from its parent company, Alphabet. He believes this would level the playing field by granting other players equal access to Google’s search functionality via API.

“The only fair decision would be to separate Google Search from Alphabet and allow other players to compete by having the same access to the Google Search functionality.”

While acknowledging that decoupling Google Search from Alphabet would be a lengthy process, Podolsky sees potential benefits. He mentioned it could “spur Internet activity and enable smaller players to discover new venues and compete more efficiently with Google.”

Similar to Podolsky’s view, Ross Kernez, founder of SEO Meetup, argues that the final outcome of the antitrust ruling could offer new opportunities for SEO practitioners and open up the market for other search engine alternatives.

“For SEO professionals, this might mean new opportunities as competition in search results increases. We could see a rise in alternative search engines or shifts in Google’s ranking algorithms, requiring us to adapt our SEO strategies,” he shared with Techopedia.

The Bottom Line

As Google prepares to appeal the August 6 antitrust ruling, multiple outcomes lie ahead. But whatever the outcome, we expect concessions regarding Google’s influence in the search engine market.

While Google is most likely to argue that the market is more competitive than it appears, probably given the rise of AI-driven search platforms like Perplexity.ai and Microsoft Copilot, many startups could also argue that a strong, well-regulated Google is still necessary to ensure a high-quality search experience for users, while advocating for a more open ecosystem where both established players and innovative startups can thrive.