A U.S. judge recently ruled that Google has violated antitrust law, claiming that the company has created an illegal monopoly in the world of online search. Obviously, we don’t know what will happen next, but this could have some potentially big implications. What are some of the ways this might affect digital advertising and SEO?
Jack: The case in question isn’t about claiming Google has an outright monopoly on the search market, nor does it suggest that Google is going to be broken up or disbanded.
The lawsuit focuses on Google's agreements with companies like Samsung and other mobile device manufacturers, arguing that having Chrome and Google services pre-installed limits competition and contributes to Google’s dominance. However, this argument seems flawed. Take Microsoft as an example — they include Edge and Bing on all their PCs, yet Bing hasn’t overtaken Google as the leading search engine. The reality is that most users prefer to install Chrome and use Google by choice.
Even if the case results in Google being required to remove Chrome from certain smartphones, it’s unlikely to have a significant impact. Users will still opt to install it themselves. A similar situation occurred with Microsoft in the 1990s, and that didn’t lead to their downfall. Google is expected to appeal, and it’s unlikely that this will lead to any major changes in the search market. But, even in a scenario where Bing suddenly becomes the dominant search engine, advertisers would simply shift their focus to Bing, and the demand for expertise in Bing Ads would rise accordingly.
Another recent development that some people claim could be a threat to Google is AI. OpenAI recently announced its own forthcoming search product, SearchGPT. It’s still a prototype, and of course Google has its own AI products, but do you see this or any other product as potentially becoming a major search competitor?
Matt: While I think some people will adopt SearchGPT, it will likely be a small fraction of the market. Google is so synonymous with search that "Google" has literally become a verb, and it’s going to take an incredible amount of change to upset that level of dominance. It’s also worth noting that a majority of the population is more concerned than excited about AI, and the percentage of concern has actually risen each year (according to the Pew Research Center). These concerns are also likely to mitigate the number of people who readily adopt a new search engine such as SearchGPT.
How could these developments potentially affect RedTag? In what ways are you guys already thinking about the future of search?
Matt: We’re always researching and learning about new technologies and how they’ll affect search, but when it comes to AI/SearchGPT, we’re still a bit in the “wait and see” phase. AI and regulations surrounding it are still very much in flux. We’ve seen with Google’s AI Overviews how quickly the population can turn against an AI product, and there is still a lot of negative sentiment in general regarding AI products in search.
We’ve been focusing on helping clients rank for snippets, which are highly correlated with AI overview answers. For example, if a page ranks for a featured snippet, it is likely to rank for an AI overview for similar searches.
One thing we love about RedTag is how the whole team is driven by curiosity. Everyone here loves to play around with new tools and ideas. What excites you most about the future of search?
Matt: I’m excited to see some competition in the search field! Google has been the dominant name in search for so long, it will be great to see some competition in the market that will hopefully push Google into being more user-friendly and maybe even give us a feasible alternative to Google.
Jack: I think that the concept of search as we know it will fundamentally change over the next decade. Of course, traditional search will always have value, and people will continue to use it due to familiarity and habit alone — Google has dominated the search market for over 25 years. However, generative AI presents a new, innovative way for users to retrieve the information they are looking for online, and it’s going to become more & more popular as AI systems become more reliable and trusted. This will birth new tactics and strategies as far as optimization goes. Rather than SEOs, we may become AIOs (Artificial Intelligence Optimizers). For me, it’s exciting that there is simply competition in the search space, and it’s a reminder that SEO spans beyond Google — it’s not the only search engine.
