Google, long considered the unshakable leader in Internet search, is facing major changes. For the first time in decades, it is losing its dominant share of the search market in the United States. The main competitors are not traditional players like Bing or Yahoo, but rising giants like Amazon. What does this mean for the future of search and for Google itself?

Google has become so powerful over the past two decades that its name has become synonymous with search. However, research firm eMarketer predicts that Google will no longer control the majority of the US search ad market in the next year. While it will remain the biggest player with a 48% share of ad revenue, Amazon is gradually taking a slice of the pie and is expected to control up to 27% of the market by 2026.

Does this mean the end of Google? Absolutely not. The company is still growing and remains the fourth most valuable company in the world with a market value of $2 trillion. In addition to search, it also dominates in other areas such as video ads on YouTube and display ads together with Meta.

Yet the situation for Google is more complex than before. On the one hand, it is under pressure from the antitrust authorities, which are challenging its monopoly position not only in search but also in the Google Play app store. Some court decisions, such as the recent win by Fortnite producer Epic Games, are forcing Google to open its store to competition.

In addition, Google also faces competition from new technologies and trends. TikTok, the most popular social network of the younger generation, is increasingly becoming a platform for content search. Crucially, Amazon has created a habit among customers of going directly to its platform when buying goods, and Google is losing valuable advertising revenue as a result.

Another big player is artificial intelligence, which is changing the way people search for information. Instead of traditional search queries, users are increasingly turning to AI assistants like ChatGPT or Google Gemini, which are able to answer questions in natural language. While Google is also active in the AI field, competition in this segment is growing rapidly.

History shows that even the biggest can lose their dominance over time. A case in point is General Electric, which after more than a century of dominating the market was forced to split its operations. Similarly, Sears, formerly a key player in US retail, went bankrupt in 2022.

Does this mean that Google could end up like Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in a couple of decades? Maybe not, but the coming years will be a turning point for the tech giant.

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