In February 2019, Google owned 92.81% of the Canadian search engine market share. A number that cannot be ignored when one is concerned about optimization. In North America, Google completely dominates its three main competitors: Bing (4.17%), Yahoo (2.07%) and DuckDuckGo (0.66%).
A quick ascent
At the end of 2018, Google celebrated its 20th anniversary. Since its launch, the company has grown almost exponentially. “When Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google on September 7, 1998, they had four computers, their ingenuity and $100,000 […] Then years later, the giant had 20,000 employees and a market value of $150 billion US dollars”, as per TVA Nouvelles in 2008. Another 10 years has passed, and the number of employees is now more than 72,000. The market value of this Mountain View, California company now reaches $570 billion US with $19.5 billion US in profits. That makes it difficult for the competition to keep the pace. If one surveys multilanguage search engines in the world, there are about ten and only four to be taken seriously: Yahoo and Bing, the two most important, have formed a partnership. In Canada, search engine options also include DuckDuckGo, MSN, and Baidu, all of which are far behind in market share.
The keys to success
What do you attribute to Google’s success as a search engine? Mainly because of the research and development investment by Google to better understand Internet users and their search habits. From personalized search to semantic analysis of query with a ranking system, Google is undeniably the leader. By adopting a culture of continuous improvement, the search engine regularly updates and improves its algorithm. Furthermore, Google was one of the first to present its search results in a clear fashion embellished with visuals and photos, appealing to the laziest and least technologically inclined among us.
Finally, the company offers a complete range of products to facilitate search and provide better results: Google Maps, Street View, YouTube, Google Flights, Knowledge Graph, etc.
The fact remains that Google is THE standard today in optimization and it is imperative to speak its language and learn how to take advantage of its power for your own business goals. Do not hesitate to get in touch with one of our experts for an orientation session!