As one of only a few girls in my family, I’ve been made to sit through my share of action movies and TV shows, as well as movies and TV shows that are not strictly action, but incorporate fight scenes.
Every time there’s a fight scene with one person facing multiple opponents, my dad always points out how convenient it is that the multiple opponents take turns attacking one at a time so the solo fighter can take them out one by one.
Unfortunately for the solo fighters in real life, it’s never that easy. On the contrary, the saying, “When it rains, it pours,” comes from the idea that problems never seem to hit us one at a time. Instead, it tends to feel like a coordinated attack, or even an ambush. How did they all know I would be vulnerable right at this moment?
Google probably feels a lot like the solo fighter right now. Like the rest of us, it’s trying to keep up with the ever-changing world of artificial intelligence to make sure it doesn’t get left behind, yet it might still get left behind.
While it’s dealing with that, it’s also fighting a massive antitrust lawsuit, which recently struck a pretty big blow.
Google may or may not have decided to add to it’s own pile of news with the announcement that they have no plans to eliminate third-party cookies from Chrome.
To be fair, it’s not as if Google is some scrawny kid getting beat up by the local gang for his lunch money.
Google is more like Goliath facing multiple David’s, each armed with a slingshot and a pile of rocks, making it hard to feel sorry for Google.
Nevertheless, since Google is still the reigning champion of online search and advertising (at least for now,) it’s worth diving into all the ways Google has been making news, and what it could mean for your online strategy.
Table of Contents
- Artificial Intelligence Is Pretty Dumb
- Google’s Antitrust Lawsuit and the Future of SEO
- Google’s Third-Party Cookies
Artificial Intelligence Is Pretty Dumb
One of the more amusing headlines involving Google over the past few weeks has included some hilarious search results “generated” by their AI search results. I already talked about that Google update in this blog post, so I won’t spend more time on it here.
Google’s Antitrust Lawsuit and the Future of SEO
Google was sued a few years ago by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly creating a monopoly in the online search market.
As of this writing, the judge has ruled against Google, but has yet to determine a course of action. Will the company of Google be split up? Or will it simply be forced to cancel it’s monopolistic contracts with companies like Apple?
Google is also facing a second lawsuit over its ad technology, which is scheduled to go to trial next month.
Microsoft faced a similar lawsuit back in 2000. The initial decision was to break up the company, but that part of the decision got reversed on appeal. Instead, Microsoft was forced to cancel its monopolistic contracts with its partners, which is why most legal experts are expecting something similar in the antitrust case against Google.
The judge’s written opinion in the Microsoft case was influential in helping the judge in this case make his decision. Similarly, this decision is expected to be influential in future antitrust lawsuits, especially in the tech industry. It’s highly unlikely that this is the last lawsuit of it’s kind that we’ll see. Apple, Meta, and Amazon are also facing accusations of violating antitrust laws.
Google has already said it will appeal the ruling, which is to be expected.
To sum up the case, Google paid tens of billions of dollars to smartphone companies and browser creators to incentivize them to make Google the default search engine on all their devices and browsers.
Not only does this enable Google to sell more ads, it also enables them to collect more data. The more people who use Google to search for information, the more data Google can collect regarding who’s searching for what, as well as when and where they’re searching for it.
As the saying goes, if you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product. As much as we grumble about companies like Google collecting all our personal information, we continue to use it because it’s free and convenient.
Google argued that vendors entered into their contracts of their own, free will, but failed to provide sufficient explanations for the exorbitant payments they made to those same vendors to make their contracts more appealing.
I don’t know if you’ve ever actively sought out another search engine, but I know I haven’t, and the data shows most people don’t. When I open the browser on my smartphone or my computer and it goes straight to Google, I use Google. When I use a client’s computer that relies on Microsoft Edge as their browser, which defaults to Bing, then I use Bing.
It takes a matter of seconds to switch to another browser, and it’s so easy. But very few people bother with the few clicks it would take, which is why Google invested so heavily in making sure they were the default search engine on so many browsers.
What About Google’s Search App?
While writing this, I used the browser on my iPhone to search for something, and I was encouraged to use the Google app for “a better search experience.”
Google has had this app for more than a decade now, but I had never before seen this notification. It makes me wonder if the lawsuit is prompting its browser users to switch to the app before Google is forced to give up its exclusive contracts with browsers and smartphone manufacturers.
How successful that migration will be has yet to be determined, especially since, as we know, online searches are largely conducted by force of habit. Will this app provide enough of an incentive for people to change their search habits?
We’ll have to wait until September to see how the judge ends up deciding to resolve this case. Suggestions run the gamut from prohibiting Google from forming such exclusive contracts and forcing it to share its data with other search providers to splitting off either Google’s Chrome browser or its Android mobile operating systems.
Regardless of what the judge decides, we’ll have to wait to see the results of Google’s appeal before anything can be considered to be even remotely set in stone.
You can read more about the judge’s recent decision in Google’s antitrust lawsuit here.
What This Means for Your SEO Strategy
I often joke that, when we talk about SEO, we’re really talking about Google. This is because of Google’s domination of the search market, whether through superior technology, as the company claims, or because of their violation of antitrust laws. Either way, the result has been, if you want people to find you on search, you need to play by Google’s rules.
This lawsuit could change that.
If we see more people using Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and other search engines, that could change the way we optimize our content for search.
It could also affect your ability to collect data on your target market, which brings me to the next bit of Google news I want to cover.
Google’s Third-Party Cookies
If you’re not already familiar with what online cookies are or what they do, they are tiny trackers that follow you around the internet.
First-party cookies were designed to help consumers. Their purpose is to remember things like your language preferences on a website, or what was in your shopping cart if you left the site without completing your purchase. This makes for a seamless experience on a website, and benefits both the consumer and the owner of the website.
The benefit of third-party cookies is decidedly one sided in favor of the website. In addition to tracking what you do on a website, they then follow you around to other websites to see what other sites you’re visiting.
The data gathered by third-party cookies is incredibly valuable from an advertising perspective. I often talk about the value of seeing what your ideal clients are doing online to get an idea of their interests, location, socioeconomic status, etc.
But third-party cookies take this to a whole new level, and while they are incredibly valuable from an advertising perspective, Google doesn’t just use this data for advertising. Google also sells this information to other interested parties, including insurance agencies, hedge funds, and even stalkers. Watch out, Baby Reindeer!
Because the damage third-party cookies inflicts on consumers is so well documented, other browsers, such as Safari and Firefox, phased them out back in 2020.
Google said it was going to follow suit, but it kept pushing back the date, until they finally admitted they have no intention of ever phasing them out.
What This Means for Your Digital Advertising Strategy
If you’re using Google Ads to get your content in front of the right people at the right time, this is actually good news for you, because it means you still have a whole lot of data to work with to make sure your ads are getting in front of the people most likely to hire you.
But if, as a consumer, you’re worried about having all your information out there for the world to see (and buy,) you might want to consider using a browser other than Chrome. You can also use the Privacy Badger browser extension, which blocks some third-party cookies and other forms of online tracking.
I also recommend regularly clearing your browser history (including cookies) on a regular basis.
Whether you want to know how the latest Google updates are affecting your ability to rank in relevant searches, or you want to know what you need to be doing right now to improve your search rankings, we can help.
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