Last week, a Hitwise analysis of Yahoo’s properties showed that search wasn’t the company’s most popular service, and also that it depended a lot on Google for traffic. A new look at Google’s properties shows that search makes up the Mountain View giant’s backbone, and that as time goes by, the industry leader is increasingly self-sufficient.
Out of the top 20 Google properties, the main Google site has a controlling market share of 68.64 percent, according to Heather Hopkins. YouTube and Gmail act as distant runners-up, with shares of 10.34 and 7.94 percent, respectively.
Search Central At Google
(Photo Credit: Hitwise)
This could be interpreted as a mixture of good and bad news. Since Google has focused most of its energy on search, it’s natural that search would be its most successful undertaking. Yet forward-looking investors might not mind seeing a little more balance in the company’s internal structure.
The independence issue, on the other hand, is hard to view in anything other than a positive light. It’s a real accomplishment for any company to be able to control its appeal regardless of outside influences, and Hopkins writes, “Last month 20.52% of visits [to the Google top 20 properties] came from Google.com up from 18.15% a year ago.”
Of course, as Google’s earnings report approaches and its stock sinks in step with the rest of the market, this news may not be enough to counterbalance whatever else comes along.
