(Written in January 2004)
I recently read an article about Google adding another billion pages to its search engine. It is yet another development in the battle for supremacy between search engines. Increasingly, browsing trends indicate that most people have started using search engines as their starting point to other web sites. As electronic commerce increases, companies that invest more into improving their visibility in search results show greater increase in website visits and ultimately revenue through sales. The current search engine market leader Google and the currently-trailing Yahoo! and Microsoft search engines are trying to corner the market for search engines.
At one time, Yahoo was the premier search engine and search directory, but Google slowly captured the search engine market with its highly effective search engine. Finally, Yahoo abandoned its search engine and licensed Google, which propelled Google's fortunes upwards. During the same period, Microsoft bundled MSN Search with its Windows operating system. By default, all website searches in Windows went to MSN Search, increasing its visibility to Internet users.
When the Internet was relatively small, web searches were not considered very important. However, as websites proliferated and grew larger, Internet users could not manage the information overload. They looked towards search engines as their tool to mine and discover what they needed. Studies show that a considerable number of users visit a website by clicking its link in search results. Companies have started investing in sponsored ads in search engines and also finding ways to increase their ratings in search results. This has produced millions of dollars in revenue for the search engines. However, revenue for a search engine is directly tied to the effectiveness of the search engine and the extent of its coverage of web pages.
Back to the article I read: At first glance, this might seem like a positive development for consumers, since Google search could become better with greater reach. However, the end result of the leadership battle for online search engines could result in a virtual monopoly for Google. What this means for Internet users is that they are increasingly dependent on Google's ability and judgment in rating websites. For example, if a person relies on Google news for his or her view into the world, his/her vision starts getting colored by the results that Google returns.
Google has sponsored ads, which are paid ads that are displayed when a person searches for a particular keyword. This gives such businesses a huge advantage and forces other businesses to buy ads. Since space is limited, the best bidder wins. While in the past mom-and-pop businesses had huge successes on the web, they will face greater challenges by changes in Internet usage pattern and sponsored ads.
There does not seem to be an easy way to prevent a monopoly on the search engine market. A search engine's only benefit is its effective search results. Unlike other businesses, cost is not a factor. If a search engine produces results that help people achieve what they want, it will attract visitors. However, sponsored ads could be prevented from appearing from all searches to help non-advertising businesses.
The fact that Yahoo and Microsoft have decided to launch their own search engine efforts does present an alternative to users. Although search engines are not Microsoft's primary market at least for now, it might continue to pose an alternative to Google for the foreseeable future. However instead of striving to be a Google-clone, it should work on better and different features for users.
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