Why are you using Google?

Like most people of a certain age, Google was my go-to search engine throughout the 00s and 10s. For the past couple of years however, I have predominantly used Bing. I'm now looking to other search engines for my daily answers. This article explores the reasons why I switched, and also whether Google’s stranglehold on the search market is still justified.

When Google first appeared in the late 90s, it was a gamechanger. The world sat up and took notice. Prior to Google’s arrival you would type your search into the likes of AltaVista or Yahoo, and it would be potluck what cropped up in the results. But when Google arrived with its ‘PageRank’ algorithm, you could type in what you were looking for, and what you got back felt not just relevant but intuitive. Suddenly, everyone was using Google (well, not everyone…China and Russia happily trotted off and did their own thing) and it wasn’t long before the verb ‘to google’ became part of the everyday global vernacular.

Google’s original homepage from 1998 Source

Nobody can deny that Google is awesome at what it does. It’s fast, constantly evolving and boasts the most extensive index of web pages & content out there.

But in recent years, many users including myself have become uncomfortable with Google’s stranglehold on all things search and have sought out alternatives. This would’ve been considered quite a risky move not that long ago but I’m happy to say I took the plunge and headed over to Bing…and haven’t looked back since.

Type ‘Google dying’ into Twitter and you’ll see a swathe of disgruntled tweets from users bemoaning Google’s ever-growing list of issues & flaws. Many of the gripes reflect my own reasons for jumping ship which are, in no particular order...

• Integrity. Say one thing, do something completely different seems to be their mantra of the last decade of so. 'We're hiding keyword data from organic search for privacy reasons, but it's fine to have it if you pay' is my favourite one.
• Privacy. Google has always had a ‘difficult’ relationship with users’ data, despite the company taking steps to change their intrusive image, such as heralding its efforts to rid the world of third-party tracking cookies (most likely for its own benefit rather than ours).
• Ads. Having sometimes four ads at the top, three ads at the bottom, and a small handful of organic results sandwiched in between isn't the best experience (although to be fair Bing is just as bad sometimes)
• Duoploy. Very few people in the marketing world, let alone outside of it, really clocked that Google and Facebook RIGGED THE MARKET IN THEIR FAVOUR to ensure that others couldn't compete. Way to go to help all of the companies that pay you BILLIONS of pounds per year.

• Monopoly. I remember doing a talk 10+ years ago where I pointed out their global domination of the search marketing. A wise member ( Dr Leslie Spiers ) of the audience pointed out they had a monopoly and it wasn't good for business. He was 100% right then and even more so now. Is it healthy for one search engine to have such a substantial monopoly across the globe? Take a look at this map to see just how large a share Google has!

Source

Google is the biggest because it's the best right?

Now you may think Google is #1 because it’s the best search engine out there - so what’s the issue with the world predominately using one search engine if it's the best tool for the job?

“Google’s biggest search innovation has been to put more Google products up front in results”

explains Rand Fishkin, founder of the software companies SparkToro and Moz. He argues that this strategy isn’t always best for the consumer. “Are Google Flights or Google Weather or Google’s stocks widget better than competitors? No, but nobody can really compete, thanks to the Search monopoly.”

I recently spotted a fantastic John Oliver video taking aim at Google for the same reason. He points out that Google often won’t display the cheapest fares or all available flights, and takes full advantage of the fact many users won’t scroll beyond its own widget to explore what else is out there. Some users might not have a problem with this. For others though, it’s a major red flag.

(In the interest of balance, I should make clear that Bing has its own flight widget too, but this has been politely positioned at the bottom of the page... for now).

And then there’s YouTube.

According to Statista 2022, Google-owned YouTube is used by over 2.6 billion people worldwide every month and is lauded as the second-largest search engine after Google itself (although this is up for?debate). Its global advertising revenues in 2021 were estimated to be around $28.84 billion.

For obvious reasons, Google’s video search is heavily weighted in favour of YouTube, but the universe of online video isn’t?just?YouTube, although it may feel like it. With Bing, you also get results from other sites such as Vimeo, Youku, VM, etc (depending on the search). This is the main advantage that Bing Video Search offers over YouTube's or Google Video's own search function. Sites like Vimeo sometimes host exclusive content for instance. A search on YouTube won't find those videos, while a search on Bing will.

‘Yes but Andy, it’s not just about video search, is it? It’s search in general. Google is way better!’

Is it though? Let’s dig a little deeper.

Here are the Top Ten Global Google Searches as of June this year.

What do you notice?

These are not complex, academic queries - quite the opposite. This table demonstrates that most users just want to navigate to the landing page of a popular website. Something that any other search engine worth its salt could do… like Bing for instance.

You may be thinking at this point ‘how much is Microsoft paying you to plug their search engine??’, so it’s probably worth taking a moment to redress the balance by looking at other search engines out there.

DuckDuckGo has been around for nearly a decade now and every year or two gets PR coverage as the 'Google killer' despite it obviously never happening. With that said, they get a reasonable 100m searches a day which has grown steadily over time, thanks to their big focus on user privacy. It's not one I've really used in any anger over the years but I know several respectable people who do and have no issues finding what they want.

OK, so it doesn’t have the vast, sprawling catalogue of Google (yet), but is there really much difference between the likes of DDG, Google and Bing?

Time for a bit of basic research

Earlier on I mentioned I had googled the phrase ‘life insurance’. After this, I searched for the same term on both Bing and DuckDuckGo. All three sites brought up relevant first page results (and ads of course). All good so far and no evidence of Google’s results being superior. So it was time to search for something a little more niche.

Agapanthus (flower)

All three search engines returned what you'd expect - information on the flower (from wikipedia and other relevant places), images, videos and generally useful pages that would help me further my knowledge. Well done all.

Bournemouth barbers

This time with Google and Bing we were, as expected, presented with a big load of local map listings. DDG also served us map listings but unfortunately they were for restaurants and not barbers, despite their normal listings showing up a reasonable batch of links.

Bohrmaschine (non-English search. Bohrmaschine is ‘power drill’ in German)

Again, Google and Bing served up better results here with content being displayed/translated into English. Bing did particularly well on that front showing a translation panel, while Google showed more translation pages in the listings. DuckDuckGo didn't do too badly with its listings, but kept them all in German, with no appreciation seemingly of my location/language settings.

Now for something really obscure... how will they get on?

Who was the bass player in Adam and the Ants?

This was a little more interesting as it was actually a bit of a trick question, given there were several correct answers. Out of the three, only Bing went bold and had a correct answer as its top result. Google also pulled out the right answers by providing links to all three bass players and their years, but in a less overt way. DDG did get it right too with its 2nd & 3rd answers from Wikipedia, but with no summary section, like the other two.

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So what?

While this has hardly been the most scientific of exercises, what it does demonstrate is that there are other search engines out there that most definitely can compete with Google.

And my real hope from you reading this is that you at least THINK about possibly changing search engines. The only reason Google has a monopoly these days is because of inertia. Bing has been 'good enough' for years, and others are catching up fast. Changing your default search engine takes perhaps 30 seconds yet it's a task I bet you've not done in years.

Google has a monopoly. Monopoly situations hurt business in the long run, haven't helped our improve privacy and frankly put too much power into too few hands. If more people switched search engines, it'd create more competition, help to spread risk (how much do YOU rely on Google for your business success?) and create more innovation I'm sure.

The issues around privacy rumble on, and I can’t help but feel the likes of niche players like Qwant (which on first try seems pretty decent!) with its privacy angle, alongside DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia with its ecological USP (powered by Bing BTW), will soon help tempt people away from the Mothership over the next few years.

Whether any of my pondering or anyone really cares enough about privacy or the planet enough to change their ways and knock Google off top spot remains to be seen. As for me, I won’t be tempted back. Je ne regrette rien and all that. I’m off to Bing some old Adam and the Ants videos.