Blog post: Online security
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Blog post: Online security
Everyone knows that “Google” is the undisputed world leader in search engines.
It’s true, of course, that “Google” is a very powerful search engine, offering a whole range of useful and powerful tools “free of charge”!
But is it really free, is it a good thing, and are there no serious rivals?
Let’s find out.
Google has a market share of almost 95%. For your information, its biggest competitor, the world’s No. 2 “Bing”, holds less than 3% of the market!
As for the French search engine “Qwant” or the eco-friendly search engine “Ecosia“, both are below 1%.
And don’t forget, thanks to this overwhelming domination, it generated over $136,000,000,000 in 2018! Over $30 billion in profits!
It’s clear then that “Google” dominates the Internet search sector by a landslide. In fact, it’s part of our daily lives and habits, and we’ve even turned its name into a verb meaning ‘to search the Internet’!
The problem is that with this enormous success comes colossal power, and to this day, it is all-powerful and can do just about anything it wants!
And it doesn’t hold back:
– It uses, stores and shares our personal data for advertising purposes to generate ever greater profits.
– It bombards us with targeted “Ad” adverts on its search engine.
– It doesn’t hesitate to change the order of search results according to its own criteria.
– It closes customer accounts without verification, explanation, discussion or recourse.
– It disrupts its search results ranking several times a year with surprise updates.
– It modifies the appearance of sites in search results according to its own criteria, highlighting those it deems “best”.
– It imposes its own rules on all websites, rules that are constantly changing.
– It auctions keywords.
– It avoids taxation through aggressive tax optimization, allowing it to avoid paying taxes in many countries around the world where it generates enormous profits.
All the above points are not exceptional in themselves, but because of “Google’s” near-total monopoly, they take on enormous proportions and generate consequences that can sometimes prove dangerous or disastrous.
For example:
– It can easily promote its own values, influence trends or impose its vision of the world.
– We have now become the product of “Google”, which at any given moment puts forward highly targeted products aimed at getting us to spend more and more money.
– It has the power of life or death over websites (businesses and companies) that operate exclusively online, putting at risk even serious and well-established sites with years of experience, without clear reason or explanation. (Example: CCN is Shutting Down after Google’s June 2019 Core Update)
– It no longer serves the average web user, who in fact generates most of its profits, and only the biggest players manage to attract its attention!
– It costs governments a lot of money, indirectly increasing our taxes!
What’s more, search results aren’t as good as we think, because with the sale of keywords, commercial results can be misleading. Then there are the filters that suggest results based on your “profile”, which effectively traps you inside a bubble. It will also always favor its own services over those of competitors.
That said, Google isn’t the big bad wolf either! It also does a lot of good things (research, development, various assistance), it employs many people around the world, and it offers quality services and tools…
The real problem is its near-total monopoly, which is unhealthy and poses a genuine concern.
Only a fairer balance of market shares could resolve the situation before it gets any worse.
There are, however, serious, respectful and effective alternatives which, if promoted a little more, could compete with the Net giant and help distribute power more evenly.
There’s Bing and Yahoo, of course, but there are other lesser-known search engines that offer solutions just as effective in terms of search, and which have the added merit of being better suited to our needs.
Here are two that should catch your attention:
QWANT:
An excellent French search engine that respects the privacy of its users:
– It leaves no cookies on your devices.
– It stores no search history.
– It uses a limited number of ads. (2 per page.)
– It doesn’t change result rankings at will.
– It pays its taxes in the country where it generates its income.
Click here to find out more about “Qwant“.
ECOSIA:
A German search engine that respects the environment:
– It is 100% powered by renewable energy.
– It donates 80% of its profits to reforestation projects.
– It does not share your personal information.
– It anonymizes all searches after one week.
Click here to find out more about “Ecosia“.
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