Are We Moving On From Google?

Google has seen vast updates recently, organic results have been pushed down the SERPs and the increasing presence of Google’s Knowledge Graph seems to be listing all knowledge that would result in a click through.

Has Google pushed us too far?

Users have expressed their annoyance and concern over updates which give them less choice and serve Google in becoming an all in one search entity that predicts the what users are looking for based on location or previous searches. The cry is that there should be another, viable search engine alternative with Google’s Monopoly broken.

Whilst SEO agencies and professionals have grown used to the updates and personally updated their SEO strategies there’s no denying the stress it has put on businesses without budget to burn on Adwords to claim their spot in the top- heavy PPC space. Those that rank for organic search are also adapting to the knowledge graph which, in some cases, gives enough content to the searcher, deeming click through to the website less likely.

So, are we moving away from Google?

According to the October Comscore’s report on desktop search market rankings there has been a drop in market share for Google. However, the search giant still holds 71.35% – down from 79.3% in 2014. Bing comes in second but only holds 12.37% – arguably discarding them as a threat.

The most likely reason for this drop, however, is that we have changed the way we search and use other services first, especially on mobile. With the many apps available, it’s likely that if you were to buy a lamp, for example, you would look firstly on Amazon or Etsy rather than search for them using a search engine. A study showed 61% of Christmas shoppers start their research inside of Amazon, compared to just 50% on Google.

The drop in the Google market share highlights a change in behavior, but not a significant one, this has been predicted for years, since Facebook released search in 2009 and yet the drop hasn’t pushed Google from their pedestal. Any eventual change will occur through use of other services, not switching to a new engine.

What would happen if we did move on though?

You would have to ensure you and your SEO agency moved with the times. There’s little point ranking high for a search engine that has little traffic.

Follow your audience- are young people moving? Does this affect your business? Build and adapt your SEO strategy to pair with overall business objectives and market trends.

We don’t think you’ll have to worry about moving away from Google just yet though.

POLARIS is an SEO Agency in London providing SEO services across multiple sectors. Contact us on info@polarisagency.co.uk for a free audit.