You don’t need a Hoover to hoover.

Meet my pal Henry Hoover we have been hoovering the stairs today and just stopped for a wee photoshoot.

Henry is not really a Hoover he is a vacuum cleaner made by Numatic International. However, ‘hoover’ (verb) means ‘to clean a carpet, floor, etc. with a vacuum cleaner’ or some similar description according to most dictionaries with no actual reference to the Hoover brand name. We are probably more likely to hoover with a Dyson these days than actually use a Hoover branded vacuum cleaner (their market dominance having been lost some decades ago).

So, can we google without using the Google search engine? Well, ‘google’ is now accepted as a verb in the Oxford English dictionary, however, googling still requires us to use the Google search engine according to the definition. The Google brand, unlike Hoover, is still dominant in the market and so this perhaps gives them command of their own verb.

So how does a brand gain dominance to the extent that it can become a verb? Based on our sample of two brands it looks like having an ‘oo’ in the name helps! However, oo-factor aside, both of these brands grew rapidly by innovating and having a superior product at a time of significant market expansion. Then, once their monopolies are established they can maintain this by a strong brand identity and also by using their dominant position to disadvantage competitors. However, over time the brand can become tarnished, smaller competitors can be more innovative and nimbler, and eventually brand dominance can be lost. In the case of Hoover that happened some time ago, and in the case of Google the process may just have begun.

Clearly the Google brand name is still strong, but it is being tainted by things like data privacy abuses. They continue to innovate, but so do their competitors. The ability to alter course and adjust their business model is limited due to size and the fear of disrupting, or even competing with, their own (highly profitable) revenue streams. They can, and do, still protect their monopoly position by exercising an ‘unfair’ market advantage. I say unfair, not because that is my opinion, but because there have already been anti-trust cases filed where Google has been accused of “ abusing its dominance over smaller rivals by operating like an illegal monopoly”.

Google’s dominance will be eroded significantly in the next few years and their monopoly will be broken within five.

I will try to back this up with some reasoning.

1. In October 2020 a huge anti-trust case was filed against Google in the USA accusing them of “exclusionary practices” where users are not given a fair choice of alternative search engines. This is on the back of an accumulation of almost $10billion in fines in recent years for issues over competition. This is the biggest anti-trust case in the USA for over 20 years. In 2000 Microsoft was severely penalised for operating an unfair monopoly in the browser market. Note that their Edge browser holds a market share of just 8% today. This current case (and others are expected in Europe) may take years to conclude, but should result in the search market being opened to fairer competition.
2. There is an emerging next generation of internet and web services where the old business models of personal data harvesting and targeted advertising are thrown out in favour of user centric models. In future, the user will have ownership and control of their data and personal choices based on consent will become normal. I am glad to say that my company Better Internet Search Ltd is one of the companies involved in this movement. Not only is there a growing movement (especially in Europe), but these models are also supported by strong legislation such as GDPR and the new Digital Markets Act (DMA). This new landscape is making it increasingly difficult for companies like Google to operate without giving more control to their customers.
3. The world has changed. While we did not care about data privacy and were unaware of the consequences of the advertising models in the past, today consumers do care. We worry about online fraud, clickbait, fake news and filter bubbles and we want to see fairer practices where we need not fear the consequences of a click. We want more sustainable business models as we struggle with climate change, the social and environmental cost of our consumption will in future be more transparent and a big factor in our decision making.

So, it is my view that the tide is now changing. I have seen first-hand that many potential customers of ours do not believe that our own search engine could be as good as Google, such is the power of their brand. (BTW our converted users think it is better). Also, many of those that try it make just 4 or 5 searches, but since they are forced back to their default search engine (which was pre-decided for them) they miss the opportunity to see how good it is and remain unconverted. However, more people are realising that they have a choice and with a little effort (to change their default settings) they can be enjoying a better search experience and one where they are treated fairly.

It probably won’t be too long before most of us are googling without using Google.

Originally published at https://www.betterinternetsearch.com on June 18, 2021.