Will Google maintain its search engine power?
-
Reading through the SEOmoz threads, and also other forums, I can't help but notice that the majority of material covered is about SEO & SERP, white hat & black hat linking, social media blogs and articles, etc, etc.
Everyone trying to scramble to the top of their market via Google. If Google brought out a release saying that hopping down the street naked & having a neighbour googling that you had, for improved SERP ratings, would produce a weird downtown scenario.
What I am asking, is this: Does Google have too much power in determining to the world what is correct and what is not as a corporation. And are they and what they have a passing phase, or will they lose their dominance like Microsoft etc through technical change?
-
Morgan,
A phase in this case is a development stage. previous phases were newspapers, radio, television, Netscape. A future phase for all I know might be 3D imaging, which if another provider is quick on the uptake, could make Google's search engine obsolete over time.
-
So long as Google continues to serve the end user better than their competitors in web search they will likely stay on top. The mechanisms for search may change but there are some core concepts that will remain the same.
Does Google have too much power? The end user decides if Google is right or wrong, so there's a bit of check and balance. To say what they have is a passing phase would be inaccurate unless you consider phases to last more than a decade.
-
I think it's a safe bet that the way we find information and making purchase decisions will undergo another dramatic change in the next few decades. I mean, thirty years ago, a bunch of ad copywriters were probably sitting around and wondering if the Yellow Pages' phone book market dominance would ever be challenged. They couldn't imagine web search, and we can't imagine what will replace web search.
In the meantime, Bing seems to be growing slowly but steadily. I wouldn't bet on them overtaking Google at any point, but it's conceivable that they could approach them in volume.
As for whether they have "too much power," obviously competition is good for consumers ... but we're not consumers, are we? I'm wondering, would we really prefer that search volume was equally distributed among, say, five or six different search engines? Meaning you now have to optimize for a half-dozen different algorithms in order to get lots of visitors from organic search? Oy.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google Plus Company Page Verification
Hi How do you test successful G+ company page/publisher integration/verification if using the less technical methods such as linking between the Home page and the G+ company page instead of adding code to the head section? Since i take it the google structured data testing tool cant work in these cases since no code on the head section ! Is it best to add the code anyway ? I note my clients still not achieving a knowledge graph card/section in the search results for a branded search but i have heard that doesnt come until you have at least hundreds of followers and/or G+ interactions. All Best
Social Media | | Dan-Lawrence
Dan0 -
Google+ buttom
Hello everybody 🙂 Is it possible to implement a Google+ button where if you press on it, it gives a particular Google+ page a plus? Because as I can see, it is only possible to implement a Google+ button, which when you pressed the'll give the given page/post you are on a plus. For example, I added a Google+ button in the footer here http://guard.dk/services/event-natklub-sikkerhed/ (see here: http://screencast.com/t/a045Uen7KEVO). But if you press it, you give just the page you are on a plus. But I'd like to see you give the website Google+ page: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+GuardISSkanderborg/posts a plus. That means that Google+ page then will have 32 pluses. It should act in exactly the same way as the Facebook like next to the Google+ button. Hope there is someone who understands what I mean, and can help.
Social Media | | JoLindahl910 -
What could Google+ do for your SEO?
If your a Google+ wizard and do everything right, so optimise your profile, pick up 1000's of followers, followers engage with your posts by adding a comment or a plus, followers are even going to your website and sharing content using the Google plus button etc. What kind of effect would this have on your SEO? Would this kind of activity improve your Auth? Side question: Forget the above, what movement would you expect if one of your pages received 1000 plus's from real users, would you expect to see a jump in SERP's I know every website is different, im just looking to see what I could expect if the work was put in to achieve the above.
Social Media | | activitysuper0 -
Google Auth and brands/individuals problem
So you can auth pages with personal google+ profiles - and its being suggested by some that this could now help rankings if that person has lots of people in their circles. So what about brand/companies content? why cant they auth the content with their Google+ profile to get the content ranking better. It doesn't seem right an individual blogger can do this but a company cannot who has written lots of guides. An example is a holiday company has written some awesome content on resorts around the World - how to use the auth for that content to rank higher? - currently only possible to link up an individual as writing the content not the brand/company itself. Any suggestions on this much appreciated. I do not want to lose any gain there might be from this new bonus given from Google.
Social Media | | pauledwards0 -
Google + Rules on Running Product Giveaways
I read in the Google+ Guidelines that running a contest, sweepstakes or other forms of contest is against the rules for Google+ However I have seen a few contests going such as share this with your friends to get entered to win. How is Google enforcing this rule? My company runs product giveaways each month on Facebook but I did not know if I would get banned for posting a link to it or building content around it on the Brand Page. I figured I would ask before I get in trouble. Thx
Social Media | | Ben-HPB0 -
Social Media Plugins advice - Google+ Pages - what is best for SEO?
I'm seeking some social media plugin advice, in relation to SEO. This may not be possible to answer yet, or ever? But it could be worth a discussion. As far as i can see, there are two main forms of plugins (taking facebook as an example): 1 that directly connects a user to your brand page on said platform (eg like us on facebook) 1 that allows a user to 'like', 'share', 'recommend' the page that you are on as a sign of respect and/or sharing content For a home page, I am confused as to which one to use, without filling out the whole page with plugins. One objective is to increase fan numbers, the other is to increase content sharing, and possibly SEO? I've noticed that Google has been returning some personalised results based on mine, or my google+ connections +1's. So to the question... Do you think having more fans on the new Google Pages for business accounts will improve SEO to the same, if not higher weighting than a +1 does? and therefore is it more important to get more brand page followers, or +1's of the homepage?
Social Media | | ARMofficial0 -
Google+ and its effects on SERPs
Hi all, With the recent launch of Google+ I've looked into the possible effects of +1'ing sites and whether or not it has a direct effect on other people with whom I'm connected within Google+. So far I cannot see any direct correlation, however I running a bigger/wider experiement with more people to get a definitive answer. What does scare me as an SEO, is that Google+ users will (most likely) use Google search whilst they are logged in, which, as we know personalises results based on a myriad of suspected metrics such as previous visits, personal +1, etc... How is this going to effect the SEO world if/when a Google+ attracts more users. Experienced this first hand when a client called me to congratulate a jump from position 9 on Google to first position over the weekend, which when I checked, the website hadn't shifted, the client was logged into her Google account due to the fact she had been playing with plus. Thoughts? Cheers Aran
Social Media | | Entrusteddev0 -
Do you think Google +1 can hurt rankings?
More on established B2C sites (not blogs/forums)? For example, a client has the #1 ranking for the kw with the highest exact match volume in their vertical and sitelinks. Is it better to keep things status quo and not give Google the data or potentially introduce a new signal to Google that might be negative if CTR is not high enough?
Social Media | | MatomySEO0