SEARCHENGINES
What would it take for new search engines to succeed?
Neeva and You.com seek to pick up segments of users overlooked by Google, and with shifting user preferences and increased governmental scrutiny, there might be an opportunity.
For over half of its 22-year history, Google has been the most prevalent search engine in the United States. Over that term, its perception has gone from quintessential Silicon Valley startup and underdog to the gatekeeper of the internet, presiding over algorithms that have massive business implications and developing a reputation for expanding its business into different sectors in the name of providing a better experience to its users.
More recently, increased scrutiny over its business practices has led government regulators to crack down on perceived improprieties and some users have shown a slight sway towards a more privacy-oriented search experience. Pushback has also come from other search engines, such as DuckDuckGo and Ecosia, which have been vocal critics of how Google is presenting search engine alternatives to Android users in the EU.
The groundswell of resistance to the market leader may create the right circumstances for alternative search engines to assert themselves. Founded by former Google ad boss Sridhar Ramaswamy, Neeva was announced in June, and You.com was announced this month by former Salesforce Chief Scientist Richard Socher. While taking a significant slice of search market share away from Google might be part of their overall goal, and what many marketers would like to see, success as a new search engine is contingent upon many factors and may come in a more modest form.
Regulators want to see more competition in search
Over the last few years, Google has been facing increased scrutiny over alleged anticompetitive practices both in the US and abroad. In 2018, it was penalized €4.3 billion (roughly $5 billion), the largest antitrust fine ever imposed by the European Commission (EC) — that’s on top of the €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) fine it levied on Google the year before for favoring its own content in search results.
Last year, 48 state attorneys general joined in an antitrust investigation of the company. On the federal level, the Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit against Google in October, alleging that it uses contracts and its market power to neutralize rivals.
If Google is found to have engaged in anticompetitive tactics, the question then turns to remedies. A report issued by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust recommended a number of potential remedies, including “structural separation” to restore competition, but Google is projecting confidence and may take the fight to court.
If that happens, it could be two years before an initial judgment, and even then, the company may pursue an appeal. However, with scrutiny over the company’s dominant position coming to a head, potential competitors have been gradually coming out of the thicket and attempting to distinguish themselves from the market leader.
RELATED: Does the Google antitrust case make an Apple search engine more likely?
Can anyone actually go head-to-head with Google?
As Google exists today, creating a search engine that could meaningfully compete with it would necessitate “[Building] a product that shows results at least as relevant, useful, fast, and cognitively low-load as Google themselves, then build a brand that at least tens to hundreds of millions of people rapidly trust and prefer to Google,” according to Rand Fishkin, CEO and co-founder of SparkToro, adding that the latter half is a more realistic possibility due to Google’s “continuing tack away from ‘beloved startup’ and toward ‘evil empire’ over the last ~8 years.”
“To be honest, I don’t see how that will happen,” Eric Enge, principal at Perficient, told Search Engine Land, “Quality of search results has a lot to do with the data you have access to, and [the search engine] with the most data wins — I don’t see how anyone can catch Google in that regard.”
Fishkin shared a similar sentiment: “I don’t think, realistically, anyone can build a search engine close to Google’s quality without their years of data on what people searched for, clicked, and found valuable vs. not (via measuring things like bounces-back-to-the-SERPs, query modifications, regularly choosing result #8 over #1, etc). That’s Google’s real secret sauce — the ace no one can touch. Tragically, I don’t think many folks in search (including these two new companies [Neeva and You.com]) realize how impossible a hurdle that is to overcome.”
While the bar is high, these two potential rivals presumably believe there are areas of opportunity that Google has yet to claim, and have been able to attract investment towards that cause. As of June, 2020, Neeva had already raised $37.5 million and employed 25 individuals, and You.com is being backed by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and venture capitalist Jim Breyer. Funding, however, is unlikely to level the playing field — even with Microsoft’s massive resources, Bing has largely been unable to sway users or digital marketers away from Google.
Catching Google does not need to be the goal
Instead of building a search engine that could take Google head on, “the objective could be to build a strong cadre of users interested in building out their ‘own corner of the web,’” Enge said with regards to Neeva, adding that this strategy would not require billions of users to be a successful business.
DuckDuckGo employs a similar strategy to differentiate itself from others and appeal to privacy-minded users. In November 2020, the number of queries DuckDuckGo handles per month increased to an all-time high of nearly 2.4 billion. Nevertheless, it still only accounts for 2.3% search market share in the US, compared to Google’s 87.7%.
Neeva’s subscription-based service, which will reportedly cost less than $10 per month when it launches, seeks to deliver a personalized yet ad-free experience. And, it may not have as many technological hurdles to overcome as it will leverage existing content and data sources, including Bing search results, Apple Maps, and weather.com. This may help Neeva save on its development budget coming out of the gate, and if it’s able to attract enough subscribers, the company aims to lower its monthly fee, which may make it a more attractive alternative for new users.
Although exact details haven’t been announced, the You.com website makes multiple references to helping users with their online purchasing decisions. The company’s early access survey also asks numerous questions related to e-commerce.
If You.com wants to be a player in the e-commerce space, it may also have to compete with Amazon. If it decides to challenge Amazon directly, then “the biggest challenges … are scale of operators, especially on the shipping+delivery side, then the two-sided marketplace-building challenge of growing potential customers and stores/sellers, and finally, luring enough investment to withstand the sustained price wars Amazon’s willing to engage in,” Fishkin said.
“So many people are wired to start their shopping with Amazon that it seems highly improbable that anyone will accomplish that,” said Enge, caveating that You.com could still build a strong user base through its differentiating features, such as a custom You.com URL with the user’s name to facilitate sharing.
Distinguishing itself in the e-commerce sector may be a more realistic path, as companies such as Etsy, eBay, Shopify and, to some extent, Google Shopping have been able to carve out their own niches in the space. “A site like You.com, if they do integrate in some level of e-commerce, only need to start producing millions of dollars of revenue to be off to a great start,” Enge reiterated, “While this is still a non-trivial accomplishment, it’s a lot simpler than trying to unseat Amazon.”
What success might look like for new search engines
The long-term viability of potential Google or Amazon competitors will partially depend on their ability to attract an initial audience, which is difficult to forecast at this point since neither Neeva or You.com have released more details or an expected launch date.
“In my opinion, no,” Fishkin said when asked about whether he thinks Neeva or You.com’s differentiating business models and features are enough to attract new users during their launch period. “If I were in their shoes, I’m not sure I’d announce my ‘secret sauce’ way of competing against the tech monopolies until after I launched — so hopefully they’ve got more up their sleeves,” he said.
A component of the “secret sauce” may hinge on identifying users who have needs that Google isn’t currently addressing. “These users will likely still use Google quite a bit, but they might use Neeva or You.com for specific scenarios,” Enge said, “If these companies can maintain this level of focus they could have a chance of success.”
If these companies take traditional venture capital, success may look more familiar: “Becoming a unicorn with $1B+ returned in shareholder value,” Fishkin said, adding, “That could be through an acquisition, of course, but hopefully some of these folks would aim to actually compete long-term against Google.”
The potential impact on Google
The existence of more viable competitors provides marketers and users with more options, but it may also, to some extent, influence Google’s strategy. That may force Google to respond by catering more to the preferences of users and search professionals, which might improve the landscape for everyone.
“Certain specific innovations might spark new innovations, or adoption by, Google,” Enge said, noting that even a large degree of success for potential rivals would still represent small numbers for Google, and that the impact is unlikely to be evident in the near term.
“Google’s never had a real competitor before, but when they had a perceived one (in Facebook), they took some fairly clumsy steps,” Fishkin said, referring to the company’s now-defunct social networking platform Google Plus, “So maybe we could hope that would happen again and give rise to an actual market for search instead of just a monopoly.”
Author: George Nguyen
SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: March 27, 2024
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
Google Local Service Ads is asking for more photos. SEOs, please don’t remove the contact us and about us pages. Hotels can remove pricing details from its Google listings. Google Local reviews is testing reactions. Google Analytics real time reporting had issues today. Google help documentation is testing using AI features.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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SEOs, Please Don’t Remove Contact Us & About Us Pages
Google’s John Mueller asked if it would be alright not to list a contact us and about us page on their website. The reason is, they would only add it if Google wanted it, but not for users. John Mueller responded, “I can think of good reasons for some sites to have these kinds of pages, but, after double-checking, there’s nothing in our search developer documentation that suggests this is needed.” -
Google Local Service Ads Sends Email Asking You To Upload Photos
Google is sending some Local Service Ads advertisers emails asking them to upload photos to their profiles. The email says, “Photos are coming to your Local Services Ads. Upload images to your profile to help your business stand out.” But don’t LSAs already contain photos? -
Google Search Developer Docs Gain AI Generated Help Features
A week ago Monday, March 18th, I noticed Google’s search developer documentation had generative AI features to help you find the answers to your question. This is in the form of an improved search, summary of the page content, a chat feature and more. I was told this was rolled out on some developer docs earlier in the year. -
Google Local Reviews Reactions Notice
In November 2023 we started to see Google allow reactions on local photos and some reviews. Well, it seems to be rolling out more widely now. -
Google Analytics Real Time Data Lagging Today
There are countless complaints across the forums and social media that Google Analytics real time data is lagging and not reporting accurately. It seems like those complaints are legit after checking a number of sites. -
Google Cafe Cleaning & Delivery Robot
You probably have seen these cleaning and delivery robots in some restaurants and lounges but have you seen them in the Google cafes? Here is one doing its thing at one of the cafes at the GooglePlex in Mountain View, California.
Other Great Search Threads:
- It’s also not a request for the site’s homepage nor for a comprehensive sorted list – it’s a restrict. Sometimes the homepage doesn’t show on top, I wouldn’t take that as a sign of anything in particular. It’s a bit easier with small sites, but not always, John Mueller on X
- It’s really refreshing to see this level of detail after an appeal is denied in GBP. This saves us a lot of time trying to get everything ship shape! Also – make sure you know who has admin access to your GBP, y’all.., Carrie Hill on X
- That’s correct – hreflang is not geotargeting, it’s all about alternate versions., John Mueller on X
- When I joined Google in early 2021, it was clear that regulatory & privacy changes and AI (automation) advancements would be key focus areas for marketers over the next several years. Fast-forward three years, and we’re now at the inflection point., AdsLiaison on X
- Hey Brett, This is currently in closed beta. I don’t have further details to share at this time, but we’re continuing to test it., AdsLiaison on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
- All about Core Web Vitals: INP (Interaction to Next Paint), Yoast
- Google Shopping GTIN Requirements Explained!, ZATO Marketing
- Google’s Helpful Content Update & Ranking System: What Happened and What Changed in 2024?, Amsive
- How to Do Keyword Mapping for SEO (+Free Template), WordStream
- Managing decentralized marketing for international SEO, Oncrawl
- Structured data for SEO: What you need to know, Wix SEO Hub
- The helpful content system has changed, Marie Haynes
- Why Site Speed Matters for SEO, Lumar
- Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do It, Ahrefs
- Does Google rank AI content?, SERP’s Up SEO Podcast
- How To Survive 3 New Threats to Your SEO Strategy, Content Marketing Institute
PPC
Other Search
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: March 26, 2024
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
Google Search Console is testing an Android App. Google is testing places and places sites in the search bar menu. Google spoke about if a business should have a website and a blog. Google added 3D models to product structured data. Google Search does not support AVIF images, yet. Mikhail Parakhin stepped down as the head of Bing Search and Microsoft Advertising.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google Search Console Tests Android App
Google seems to be testing an Android App for Google Search Console. This comes several weeks after I reported that Google has no plans for a mobile app for Google Search Console. -
Google Tests Places & Places Sites Search Bar Filter Tabs
Yesterday we reported Google is testing products and products sites in the search bar tab in the European regions. Today, Google is testing places and places sites in the search bar tab in the European regions. -
Google: Should Small Service Businesses Start A Website & A Blog?
Google’s Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, was asked about if a business should always have a website and if so, should they also have a blog. Sullivan replied that he believes all businesses should have at least a basic website, but when it comes to a blog, that depends on what they have to say on that blog. -
Google Adds 3D Models Markup To Product Structured Data For Linking
Google has added new 3D models markup support to the product structured data documentation so that you can connect, associate or link your products to the appropriate 3D model. -
Google Search Does Not Support AVIF Images Just Yet
Did you know that Google Search does not support the AVIF image format? At least not yet. Google Search doesn’t list it on its supported image formats and Google Image Search simply won’t index them. But John Mueller of Google said on X, “I’m sure this won’t be necessary long term.” -
Mikhail Parakhin Steps Down As Head Of Bing Search & Microsoft Advertising
Mikhail Parakhin, the head of Bing Search and Microsoft Advertising, is stepping down from that role as Parakhin “decided to explore new roles.” We’ve quoted Mikhail Parakhin here countless times over the past couple of years, to hear that he is leaving the role makes me super sad. His transparency and willingness to listen to the community was amazing. -
St. Patrick’s Day Dancers At Google Ireland
Here is a video I found on Instagram from the Google Ireland office of dancers performing at the Google office in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. It looks like they call themselves the Golden Beats.
Other Great Search Threads:
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
Search Features
Other Search
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: March 25, 2024
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
Google is begging SEOs to stop trying to show Google things and work on showing their users things. Google is testing the Search Generative Experience in the wild to a subset of US users. Google says publishing more content doesn’t improve site quality. Google is testing products and product sites in the search bar. Google shares how to remove a subdomain of a subdomain in Google Search Console.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
-
Google Tests SGE AI Overviews In The Wild (Subset Of US Users)
On Friday, Google began to test SGE-based AI overviews in the real Google search results. That means you may see AI overview snapshot answers in Google search results without being opted into the Google search labs experiment. This is being tested on a small subset of searchers based in the U.S., Google told me. -
Google Begs SEOs To Stop Showing Google Things; Show Visitors Things Instead
Google’s Search Liaison responded to a series of posts on Twitter, leading him to beg SEOs to stop trying to “show Google” things, explaining that the process of doing things to your site to rank better in Google is the opposite of the advice Google is giving. Instead, show things to your users/visitors that those people will like. -
Google: Publishing More Content Doesn’t Improve Quality For Faster Indexing
A couple of weeks ago, Gary Illyes and Lizzi Sassman of Google had Dave Smart as a guest on the Search Off The Record podcast and they spoke about crawling. In one part, they said again that the quality of your site can impact how fast and how much Google will crawl your website. -
Google Tests Products & Product Sites Search Bar Filter Tabs
Google is now testing placing “product sites” as its own search bar filter tab in the search results. Also, Google is testing replacing “Shopping” with “Products” in that search bar. -
How To Remove A Subdomain Of A Subdomain Via Google Search Console
Let’s say you have a subdomain of a subdomain, such as sub.sub.domain.tld, how do you remove sub.sub.domain.tld from Google while keeping sub.domain.tld in the Google search results. The answer is to verify the sub.sub.domain.tld property directly in Search Console and remove just that property. -
Flock Of Geese At Google
Here is a flock of geese near the new Google Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. I guess the geese are making its way from the GooglePlex to the Bay View campus?
Other Great Search Threads:
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
Search Features
Other Search
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
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