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Google is Still King (and Will Be for The Foreseeable Future)

Posted on Thursday, October 17th, 2019 at 3:38 pm    

When choosing to market online, Google and YouTube are essential channels you need to be on. Google is dominant, but just how dominant? And are they losing dominance? Some data shows that online ad revenue is being split more than it ever has, but when it comes to Organic Search, online advertising and video, there’s no getting around Google.

Google’s Rise

Google was not the first search engine to be created. Some of the first search engines became public around 1993 and the Google as we know it wasn’t officially launched until 1998. Yahoo, AskJeeves (now Ask.com) and MSN all came out with Search engines before Google.

So why, over two decades later, is Google the most dominant search engine, and one of the most powerful companies in the entire world? Because they did it better. There’s a lot of factors you can go into, but in the end, Google gave searchers the seamless user experience they wanted when making searches. People were getting the results they expected when they searched on Google. This all goes back to their algorithm and PageRank, but I will spare you those details for now. All you need to know is Google did search engines better and still does.

After 21 years of dominance, it stands to reason that Google would encounter fierce competition to take some of Google’s enormous search engine market piece of the pie, but no one has come close. 

Google’s Competition for Search

According to StatCounter, as of September 2019, Google had a 88.37 percent share of the United State’s search market. This includes Google Search, Google Image Search, Google Maps and YouTube. The rest of the 11.63 percent market share is split mainly between Bing (6.07%), Yahoo! (3.94%) and DuckDuckGo (1.28%). Since 2009, Google has gained almost 10 percent of the search market share in the United States.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Search Engine Market Share

Google has seen this rise in use, while also facing stiffer competition. Microsoft’s Bing launched in 2009 and DuckDuckGo is rising in popularity lately. DuckDuckGo promises to not collect user data, which is appealing to a number of people who are wary of Google’s data collection methods. While the sentiment is nice, it is difficult to create a great user experience without data.

All of the data says one thing, Google Search is here for the long haul, and if your business wants to be prominent on the web, then you need to be seen on Google.

Google’s Competition for Online Advertising Dollars

As mentioned earlier, there is more competition now  for marketer’s online advertising dollars than ever before. Facebook, SnapChat, Pinterest, Amazon and Twitter are all competing for Ad dollars and they are taking market share. This has led to Google’s ad revenue growth to slow, but it is still growing. Google Ad revenue in Q1 2019 was up 15 percent YoY and in Q1 2018 their ad revenue grew 24 percent YoY. 

So is Google going to see a decline in dominance? Eventually yes, but it shouldn’t dilute how important Google is for an Online marketing campaign. More and more advertising dollars are being shifted to digital marketing from traditional media every year. In 2018, $108 BB was spent on digital advertising in the United States. By the year 2023, it is projected that this amount will go up almost 100 percent to over $200 BB. 2019 is projected to be the first year where digital advertising spend outweighs the ad spend on traditional media (Billboards, TV, Outdoor etc.) in the U.S.. As the world becomes more digital, it’s natural that advertisers will look to diversify where they spend their money online so they aren’t as dependent on Google. However, it is unlikely that the power of Google, and what it can do for a brand online, is diminished.

Be Seen on YouTube

Google owned YouTube dominates the video search market. 95 percent of internet users are serviced by YouTube. If a company wants to be seen, they need to have a presence on YouTube.

YouTube is Responsible for 37 percent of All Mobile Internet Traffic. People sharing interesting videos and topics is what drives traffic to the site. That’s why it is so important your company is uploading unique content to their YouTube channel and website.

Market to the Masses

The great and mighty Google and YouTube are here to stay. Their products are an integral part of an internet user’s daily life. From using Gmail, watching YouTube videos to getting directions on Google Maps and much more, an individual could get their entire online experience only using Google products. Marketing on these platforms is more important than ever and their importance is not waning. 

If you are looking to run a SEO or PPC campaign to be seen on Google Search, or if you are interested in building a brand on YouTube, contact TSEG. We help law firms and small local businesses take advantage of these platforms.