Google Monopoly

As many people already know Google is the king of online search tools; what people may not know is how high above the competition their crown sits. Recent findings based on a sample of 10 million U.S. Internet users states that Google holds a massive 70% hold on all searches in America. Google’s supremacy has been on the rise for quite a few years leaving previous giants like Yahoo and MSN to fall towards obscurity. Yahoo currently setting at only 20% of the market share, has been dropping in popularity at a rate of .3% a month for the past year. Rounding out the top four you have Microsoft with 6% and Ask.com with a 4% of the market share.

What does this mean for you? Well first of roughly 80% of all online business is driven by Organic Searches. Pay-per-click services WILL get you traffic but tests have shown that the majority of web viewers will avoid paid search links purely on the basis that they know people are trying to sell to them. Since most of your customers will find you through an Organic Search and Google holds 70% of the organics search market it is absolutely critical that you website is optimized for Google searches. This is not to say you should ignore optimization for all other browsers; 30% of your possible customers are a lot to just ignore. What it DOES mean is that you should find the best way to appease both search engines.

Search Engine Optimization is becoming a larger and larger part of the business world and with it is an increasing stress to make your website SEO compliant. Through proper optimization it becomes possible to create free advertising for your website and drives customers to you. Google has changed the way business is done on the web and with it changed the world. If you want to be a part of it you will need to embrace the changes.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department