Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

news.ycombinator.com

1–10 of 332 posts

Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#1
Despite all the posts about the declining quality of Google, we haven't seen any serious competitors arise over the last years. DDG is at about 2% market share, which is great but still very low.

Apart from Google's monopoly and the big technical challenges, what would a competitor need to defy Google?

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#2
First you need to ask, why everywo is using Google:

Habits and ignorance. The casual web user is just fine with what Google has to offer.

And besides that: Google is convenient and everywhere. To get rid of it it requires not only the will but also the technological skill that the common user just does not have.

And that leads to the answer of your question: Create an alternative that is easy to use,ofcourse, that can be implemented by just "a click" and is has to be everywhere. On your phone, TV and computer.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#4
Because imo it would require being more than just a search engine. Google has Chrome, Gmail, YouTube and Search. People like having a lot of their services consolidated, just look at the Apple folks.

Also while the quality of search has declined it is nowhere near the point where casual users would be bothered enough to switch

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#5
post #2

First you need to ask, why everywo is using Google: Habits and ignorance. The casual web user is just fine with what Google has to offer. And besides that: Google is convenient and everywhere. To get rid of it it requires not only the will but also the technological skill that the common user just does not have. And that leads to the answer of your question: Create an alternative that is easy to use,ofcourse, that ca…

> Habits and ignorance. The casual web user is just fine with what Google has to offer.

I think that’s a contradiction. If it’s just fine for their needs, the they have all the relevant information they need. They know perfectly well finding another service would take considerable effort, might well lead to a worse experience, and there’s a high chance they’d switch back anyway. That’s an informed decision, not an ignorant one.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#6

Because imo it would require being more than just a search engine. Google has Chrome, Gmail, YouTube and Search. People like having a lot of their services consolidated, just look at the Apple folks. Also while the quality of search has declined it is nowhere near the point where casual users would be bothered enough to switch

And Android, that keeps users tied to Google services through the power of defaults.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#8
post #2

First you need to ask, why everywo is using Google: Habits and ignorance. The casual web user is just fine with what Google has to offer. And besides that: Google is convenient and everywhere. To get rid of it it requires not only the will but also the technological skill that the common user just does not have. And that leads to the answer of your question: Create an alternative that is easy to use,ofcourse, that ca…

So why did everyone start using Google when before that everyone had been using Yahoo or AltaVista?

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#9
What you need as a competitor is awareness by users. But it's hard to beat a dominant player with lots of cash.

Google owns one of the major mobile platforms, where it is the default search engine. It pays competing Browsers like Firefox to be the default and is so tied in public perception that "to google" is a verb.

Also Google is fast and mostly reliable.

Also Google search integrates with other services like Maps for localized search so that one is torn back to them easily.

And if you were to get close to it they have tons of money to fight you.

The interesting aspect is that outside the broader search domain their approach often enough doesn't work. They didn't get social networking, they didn't get messaging (except mail) ... so they way to beat them likely is to find new segments and occupy that space (like Zuckerberg wants to do with "Metaverse," whatever that shall be)

Post reply on HN