Google is finding out that conquering mobile search and keeping that crown won't be an easy affair. As we all know, Google relies heavily on advertisements to stay afloat, and mobile ads play a huge part in the profit margins. However, it appears if Smartphone owners are using less of Google on mobile and more of apps.
According to a new report from eMarkerter, Google is losing grounds in the mobile search market, and the culprit is not coming from Bing or Yahoo Search, but from apps like Yelp and Foursquare. In 2012, the search giant had around 82.8 percent control of the search market, but by 2018, the search company may only have 64.2 percent shares.
All these losses are being picked up by Yelp and other apps, and with Foursquare's resurgence and focus, Google could lose even more. Yes, the likes of Yelp and Foursquare are not search engine apps on the scale of Google Search, but they do offer users to find certain things easier than when using a traditional search engine.
For example, if someone wants to find a good restaurant, it would be best to visit Yelp or Foursquare for this very purpose as these apps provide a better experience.
"Even though browser-based search is a common behavior among mobile owners, search engines are not necessarily the first place smartphone and tablet users turn," Cathy Boyle, an analyst at eMarketer, said in the report. "The explosion of mobile app development and usage means mobile users have more - and more specialized - alternatives for finding information."
At the end of the day, Google will still have control over the desktop search business, but we doubt that would matter much since it is clear the tech industry is moving towards a mobile future in a rather bullish way.
Google would want to hold on tight to its control of the mobile search market, even if it means paying billions of dollars to acquire Yelp. We expect the search company to make the necessary moves to plug the leaking hole sooner rather than later, and we also expect eMarkerter to change its tune in the coming years.
