Google – Why It Will Remain King of Search

Earlier, I wrote an article News Corp to block Google and other search engines. In that article, there is a video which aired on Sky News via YouTube in which Rupert Murdoch talks about removing his News Corp content from Google search, and going to a subscription based model for his news content.  We also later learned that in Microsoft and News Corp Teaming Up Against Google? that the two companies are planning to work out a deal to make Microsoft Bing the exclusive search engine for News Corp Content.

I can understand Microsoft and News Corp position behind such a move. The facts are that News Paper revenue has fallen off somewhat in the digital age. The revenue brought in by Classified Ads has been severely cut into by the likes of Craigslist and other online classified services. It can also be extremely difficult to turn a profit today from online advertising unless you work out your own advertising deals with companies. However, I don’t think News Corp de-indexing its content from Google will help it in the long run, and may in fact hurt the News giant.

As you may know, Google is the king of search engine land. When looking at the numbers depending on which ones you look at, Google has the lion’s share of the overall Search engines market. This would put a huge dent in News Corp’s overall traffic numbers. Google on the other hand, has the option of providing news from other sources that will be more than happy to provide that content for free with an advertising based model coupled with selling its on ad space on its heavily trafficked web sites.

Microsoft Bing has a very small percentage of the search market, and the gains it has made have been made primarily against Yahoo Search. Microsoft and Yahoo plan to merge search engine efforts in a partnership labeled by many with the catchy phrase Microhoo. From what I have read, Microsoft Bing will provide Yahoo search results, and Yahoo will provide the advertising for the search engine for the length of the agreement. These two moves in conjunction Microsoft hopes will allow it to chip away at its primary competitor Google. Microsoft has stated that plan to spend heavily for years to get Bing out there as a top search competitor. Microsoft knows it can’t compete with Google by just being there, and it is prepared to do what it takes money wise to get Bing into a prominent position to compete with Google.

However, I personally believe this will be all for naught. Google is a household name. In fact, “Google it” has become a common verb. Since it is this popular, i just can’t see Microsoft Bing being able to really challenge Google in the search engine market now. Its too late for Micrssoft as they are just a little too late to the dance. Google Chrome OS will be making its way to the store shelves soon, and it will be a big competitor to Windows on the very popular netbook platform. Google Chrome OS will allow users to have access to all the popular Google web applications such as Google Docs, Google Apps, and other Google Services via the cloud. The recent demo of Google Chrome OS showed it to be a very light weight OS with its primary focus on the in the cloud computing concepts and web applications.

Google will remain the king of search for many years to come. Microsoft Bing may make a small dent , however, it will not be a big enough dent to do any real damage to Google. Google will make up for the small dent in search, with sales of its Google Chrome OS on netbooks that will sell simply due to brand name Google attached to it.

News Corp is hinging its bets on the money deal it makes with Bing will be enough to offset the traffic loss, and the loss of profits the advertising based news industry has taken in recent years. Even though I don’t agree with News Corp’s position, I can understand in a business sense why it is moving to a subscription model to make it a profit turning viable business in the digital age. I think the success or failure of this model will depend on how many others follow suit.

The biggest loser of this deal will be Microsoft. Google users who don’t get news from News corp sources, will get it elsewhere without even realizing it. News it News, and Reuters, and other News Sources will be more than happy to have their news content on Google, and rightfully so most Google users won’t care where it comes from as long as its news. So I can’t see this deal having any huge drawbacks on Google’s numbers. In fact, there is a real possibility that Google emerges the real winner out of this deal.