When you think of searching the Internet, more than likely, the first thing that comes to mind is Google. The familiarity and catchiness of the name alone goes a long way towards securing our loyalty, something Google is undoubtedly aware of.
However, is Google’s grip strong enough to declare them the winner of the search engine wars? If the name recognition factor is any indication, then perhaps it is time to do just that… at least from some people’s perspective.
In a post that’s received a great deal of buzz, Richard Skrenta suggests the battle for both the search and online advertising markets are done and Google should be recognized as the winner. He even went as far to call them “start page for the Internet,” something I’m sure portal king Yahoo would disagree with. Nevertheless, Skrenta’s point is clear – Google’s position is so dominant that they have essentially “won the Internet”:
“The net isn’t a directed graph. It’s not a tree. It’s a single point labeled G connected to 10 billion destination pages.”
When you consider the fact online business get the majority of their search engine traffic from Google, the idea of them being THE starting point for Internet activity is not farfetched at all. This in no way is a slap to Yahoo, who is still the number one home page for Internet users. They are not, however, the leader in search engine activity even though a fully functional search box sits at the top of their index page.
Surprisingly, Google holds this honor (at almost a 2-1 ratio in the month of November), which means people are actually navigating away from Yahoo in order to conduct web searches.
Another indicator of Google’s grip comes when stock experts make estimates about the Google stock forecast. In a new Reuters article, it was revealed Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy expects the price to achieve or succeed $600 a share. Currently, Google stock is trading at 466.74, while none of Google’s competitors, save Baidu, tops the $100 a share mark.
The question becomes can any of Google’s competitors knock the group from Mountain View of off their pedestal? Would a Microsoft purchase of either Yahoo or AOL give them the necessary war chest to combat Google? Or should MSN Search be more worried about being caught by AOL Search (powered by Google)?
