With Google so dominant in the search market in both the US and Europe, marketers have been lamenting the lack of a rival to the search engine’s dominance of the industry.
Google’s market share in the US was almost 70% in June, while in the UK this dominance is even more marked, with recent Hitwise stats giving it 87% of all searches in the same month.
At the RBC Capital conference in San Francisco this week, online marketers have been giving their opinions on Google, regretting the fact that its huge market share limits their options when planning search ad campaigns.
According to one marketer:
“In the last 10 years, I’ve seen a dramatic decrease of competition between Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, and that’s increased the importance of success on Google. When our clients come to us to talk about search, what they really mean is, ‘Let’s talk about Google.'”
Some also regretted the breakdown of a possible deal between Yahoo and Microsoft, which could potentially have created a more formidable opponent for Google in the search advertising market.
However, Google may dominate, but this does not mean that other search engines should be discounted. Many pointed out that rivals Yahoo, Ask.com and Live Search can all perform well for search ad campaigns.
