Source: TheDrum
Google’s ‘shopping’ search ads still hold sway over virtually all other competitors with a 99.6% market share in the UK, despite a European ruling designed to force the search giant to make room for its rivals, according to The Times.
Changes introduced last year sought to whittle down Google’s near monopoly by leveling the playing field for advertisers but thus far the measures have had a negligible impact with Google’s own shopping platform still overwhelmingly populated by the companies own ads.
Analysis by Searchmetrics conducted five months after the search giant was forced to open its doors to rivals showed that in excess of 99% of ads that appear alongside search results were still homegrown – despite being hit with a record €2.42 billion fine and ordered to allow rivals, such as price comparison websites, to list their own products within 90 days.
At issue is Google’s continued ability to outbid competitors for slots on so-called ad ‘carousels’ despite Google moving to allow competitors to bid on equal terms for slots. In Britain this sees 6.1% of carousels populated by at least one ad from a competitor but these are often lost amid up to 28 other Google ads.
