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Google's Grip on Search Slips as TikTok and AI Startup Mount Challenge (yahoo.com)

(Monday October 07, 2024 @11:20AM (msmash) from the closer-look dept.)


Google's grip on the nearly $300 billion search advertising business [1]is loosening . From a report:

> For years, the tech giant has seemed invincible in this corner of the ad market, which is the foundation of its business. Now, rivals are beginning to eat into its lead, and new offerings -- fueled by the rise of artificial intelligence and social video -- threaten to reshape the landscape. TikTok, the wildly popular short-form video platform, has recently started allowing brands to target ads based on users' search queries -- a direct challenge to Google's core business.

>

> Perplexity, an AI search startup backed by Jeff Bezos, plans to introduce ads later this month under its AI-generated answers. Until now, it has made revenue mostly from a $20-a-month subscription offering that grants access to more-powerful AI technology. The new initiatives add to the pressure on Google from the rise of Amazon.com, which has taken a chunk of search ad spending. Many consumers begin product searches on the e-commerce platform.

>

> Google's share of the U.S. search ad market is expected to drop below 50% next year for the first time in over a decade, according to the research firm eMarketer. Amazon is expected to have 22.3% of the market this year, with 17.6% growth, compared with Google's 50.5% share and its 7.6% growth.



[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-grip-search-slips-tiktok-010000749.html



Bing is better too (Score:2)

by phantomfive ( 622387 )

If you use Bing with Cortana, it can often find things better than Google. Partially because Google sold out to the SEO crowd.

Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

by nightflameauto ( 6607976 )

> If you use Bing with Cortana, it can often find things better than Google. Partially because Google sold out to the SEO crowd.

Google sold out to the SEO crowd? Google created the SEO crowd, promoted the SEO ideology every step of the way, and is now an SEO evangelist, ranking in tech territory about where Jimmy Swaggart ranked for TV evangelists at one time. Right around the time he got busted doing naked chinese firedrills with hookers.

Re: Bing is better too (Score:2)

by phantomfive ( 622387 )

I have no idea what you just said, but I like the energy.

Re: (Score:2)

by nightflameauto ( 6607976 )

> I'd pay maybe $10/month for a Google subscription that gave me no ads for anything.

> For that matter, I'd pay $50/month for an internet subscription that gave me no ads for anything, on any site I looked at.

Most of us already pay $50 a month for internet, with ads. I'd toss another twenty-five at ad-free, for sure. Maybe more, depending on particularly how annoyed I am at ads at the time I sign up.

SEO vs real good info (Score:2)

by courteaudotbiz ( 1191083 )

Back in the days, Google would just find relevant stuff crawling the web, in these days where SEO wasn't a thing. Now, if you have great info but no SEO skills, you'll be on the 16th page in the results and get no hit on your great info.

AI is getting relevant, cause it gets (mostly) good answers to questions, compared to Google, where answers are getting more and more sponsored, and less relevant.

As for TikTok, AKA the PRC, I can't say, I will never let that shit in my home on smartphone. Just as Temu.

Providing Answers vs Web Search (Score:2)

by in10se ( 472253 )

If you need a question answered, Google is pretty good at that.

If you need to search the web, unfortunately Google hasn't done a good job at that in over a decade.

AI Can Offer Better Search but Also Altern. to Ads (Score:2)

by Slicker ( 102588 )

AI that can search, cite, and link while integrating information by relevance to the query is obviously vastly superior to Google search.

Similarly, however, AI that gets to know the user and his/her needs/interests and projects could be a bastion for business IF the AI company charges to list their products. The key to win would be to offer more information about the products thereby enabling the AI to determine what products meet the user's actual needs.

When I say products here, it also applies to service

Time for Google to start finding new markets? (Score:2)

by ctilsie242 ( 4841247 )

Ages ago, IBM was in the cash register market, and had to find new markets to keep going, thus being one of the first companies into the computer ecosystem. Maybe Google needs to start moving into other markets? The ad market isn't going to keep expanding, and it is only a matter of time, either due to nationalism, worry about intel gathering, increased concern about privacy, and people just sick and tired of ad companies, that the market is going to shrink, especially because the ad market likely will im

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