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Chapter 7
Searching for a Search Engine
There’s a big marketing battle brewing among the search engines of the world. Google
[http://bi.galegroup.com/essentials/company/927326?u=tlearn_trl] is so widely used that many
consumers talk of “Googling” a product or service when they mean they’re going to do some
Internet research. But as dominant as Google may be in some countries—it handles two out of
every three online searches in the United States, for instance—it does face competition, both
locally and globally. Still, because of Google’s firmly entrenched position, other search engines
have to start by stirring consumers to recognize a problem with their current search engine.
The most aggressive of Google’s search competitors is bing, introduced by parent company
Microsoft [http://bi.galegroup.com/essentials/company/68489?u=tlearn_trl] in 2009. Within
months, bing had arranged to become the official search engine of Yahoo!, one of the web’s
original search sites. Thanks to this deal, bing improved its share and now holds about 15 percent
of the U.S. search market, pulling nearly even with the market share of Yahoo! worldwide,
however, bing holds only a tiny share of the search market, whereas Google still controls more
than 80 percent of the global search market.
To increase brand awareness, to put itself in the consideration set, and bring consumers to its
search site, bing runs ads on TV and in movie theaters to promote itself as a “decision engine.”
The messages, delivered with a dash of humor, suggest that consumers can avoid information
overload and find just what they need by searching on bing, whether they’re looking for how-to
videos, holiday gift ideas, airline flights, or movie showtimes.
For its part, Google is pouring on the warm feelings in its ads to engage consumers
emotionally and retain their loyalty. Ads portray Google as the place to search for long-lost
friends, for example, among other search stories with affective appeal. In essence, Google is
reminding consumers: “Remember how it felt when you did those successful searches through
our site? Use Google when you’re searching for something you care about, whether it’s videos,
images, news, maps, or more.”
Google also wants to be sure that mobile users continue to choose its search site when using
their phones to locate information about goods and services. Currently, Google is responsible for
more than 90 percent of U.S. mobile searches. However, that may change as many search sites
gear up in earnest for this fast-growing segment.
Other search engines have captured considerable market share outside the United States by
optimizing their searches and the look of their sites and results to meet local needs and preferences.
Baidu, for example, is the market leader in Chinese-language searches, and Yandex is the leader
in Russian-language searches.
In addition, various niche search sites want consumers to choose them for specialized
searches. VideoSurf, now owned by Microsoft, enables consumers to search for specific content
among 50 million online video clips. It is being marketed in connection with Microsoft’s Xbox
system as a way for consumers to locate sports or music videos to stream to their TVs. Mocavo,
used to search for names of ancestors, is marketed through mentions on genealogy blogs and
websites. Wolfram Alpha calls itself a “computational knowledge engine” that can help users
search for data about mathematics, statistics, engineering, units and measures, and more.
Infomine searches academic resource collections available online. findsounds.com enables
consumers to locate and listen to sound effects posted on the web. spezify.com emphasizes
colorful and intuitive visual display rather than a simple text listing of results. No matter what
kind of search consumers want to conduct online, there’s a site to help them locate exactly what
they want.
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CASE QUESTIONS
1. Why is achieving a significant level of brand familiarity especially important for Google’s
competitors?
2. What are the search sites doing to increase consumers’ motivation, ability, and opportunity to
process external information?
3. Are consumers likely to search by brand or search by attribute when comparing search sites?
Which process is likely to favor the specialized search sites?
4. Given the role of prototypicality in recall of search engine brands, what do you think niche
search sites should do to get into the consideration set?
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