Google: Apple rejected Microsoft Bing deal over quality and advertising worries
Microsoft claims Google, which pays Apple up to $19 billion a year to be the default search engine on its products, blocked the sale.
Topic: Monopoly
Google: Don’t punish us for our success in Search
Google claims the U.S. Government is trying to penalize it for being successful in a post-trial brief submitted to a DC Judge.
Google will face a new U.S. antitrust jury trial in September
The tech giant denies allegations that it abused its dominance of digital advertising technology.
U.S. vs. Google antitrust trial: Everything you need to know
The landmark court case brought by the US Justice Department could spell huge changes for Google and the future of Search.
Amazon’s ‘secret ad pricing scheme’ revealed in previously redacted documents
The US Federal Trade Commission claims Amazon has made billions of dollars by punishing advertisers and using deceptive practices.
How the Google antitrust lawsuit can impact advertisers
Explore the potential impact of the Google antitrust lawsuit on advertisers and the digital advertising landscape.
Microsoft CEO: AI will make Google more dominant
Despite investing $100 billion in Bing, the search engine simply can't compete with Google due to its monopoly position, says Satya Nadella.
Google accused of downplaying ad price manipulation
Some advertisers believe Google quietly inflates ad prices by 100% – a stark contrast to the 5% suggested by the search engine.
Google quietly increases ad prices to meet targets, claims exec
The search engine reportedly raises prices by up to 10% without informing advertisers.
How market types shape marketing and SEO success
Here's why SEOs must understand business market types and how they influence the success of our marketing strategies.
Google sued by USA Today publisher amid falling ad revenue fears
Gannett is suing Google for allegedly breaking American antitrust laws and causing a crucial drop in ad revenue for news publishers.
US Justice Department sues Google again, aims to dismantle its ad division
Google is accused of violating antitrust laws in acquiring or maintaining dominance.
This day in search marketing history: January 20
Matt Cutts forks guest blogging, plus: Semrush buys Backlinko, ranking factor study, a Google search quality rater interview and more.
Google offers to split part of its ad-tech business to avoid DOJ trouble
Legal pressures are mounting and Google offers to split part of its ad-tech business to avoid DOJ trouble.
Google allegedly creates ad monopoly with Facebook to favor its own exchange according to new, unredacted details from Project Jedi
There is potential that publishers and advertisers have been overpaying and missing out on placements due to Google’s alleged collusion with Facebook to essentially rig the ad market.
Marketers not surprised by Google’s ‘Project Bernanke’, ‘Jedi Blue’
But ideas differ on how it will affect the day-to-day work for paid search advertisers
Google accused of colluding with Facebook and abusing monopoly power in new lawsuit
The lawsuit, filed by 10 state attorneys general, claims that Google made a deal with Facebook to curtail header bidding so that it could continue to dominate the online ad space.
DOJ antitrust suit: Google uses contracts, market power to neutralize rivals
Google thinks it will win but the DOJ used these arguments successfully before.
Congressional report blasts Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook as monopolistic ‘gatekeepers’ of the digital economy
Breaking up these companies will apparently be on the table.
Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook set to preview antitrust defenses before Congress
Sure to be a marathon, the hearings could be dramatic or incredibly dull.
Justice Department homing in on Google Ad Manager in antitrust probe
The feds are interviewing publishers and ad-tech rivals about whether Google has too much control "over the monetization of digital content."
Now, more than 50% of Google searches end without a click to other content, study finds
Zero-click searches hit an all-time high in June.
Problems & Solutions: Analyzing The EU’s Antitrust Charges Against Google Over Shopping Search
The EU has raised four concerns about how Google has dominated shopping search. A close look at each charge and possible fixes that might emerge.
Leaked 2012 FTC Document Called Google A Monopoly, Recommended Litigation
An “inadvertently disclosed” report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) labels Google a monopoly and appears to directly contradict the decision not to pursue legal action against the company. In early 2013 the FTC formally decided to close its antitrust investigation against Google demanding only modest changes in the company’s business practices. It turns out […]
Google’s Current EU-Antitrust Settlement Appears Dead
Without immediate, new concessions from Google, it appears that the company will not be able to finalize an antitrust settlement with the European Commission before antitrust chief Joaquin Almunía leaves office in November. It’s almost certain that a stronger Google critic will succeed him making a future settlement even tougher. A few months ago, after […]
Secret Contracts Keep Google In Control Of Mobile Search Argues Lawsuit
A would be class action lawsuit was filed last week against Google in Federal Court in California. The action seeks to resurrect some of the themes and arguments raised in the now settled FTC antitrust case against the company. While repeating familiar abuse of market power allegations against Google, the new civil case is focused […]
The Double Serving Myth: When One Company Monopolizes PPC Ad Results
The search engines double serving policies aren't so straightforward.
When It Comes To Google, Microsoft’s Ballmer Is Still Fighting Old Battles With Old Tactics
I’ve watched Microsoft fight Google in search for a very long time. Bing has come a long way, and I’ve been pleased to see a strong competitor emerge. But Microsoft hasn’t actually hurt Google’s share. It’s only robbed from its partner, Yahoo. So how’s Microsoft going to beat Google? Comments from departing CEO Steve Ballmer […]
Is Google’s Antitrust Settlement Offer To Europe Dead On Arrival?
The European Union has “accepted” Google’s formal antitrust settlement proposal — subject to “market testing.” As a practical matter, that means EU Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia is circulating it among Google’s critics and competitors for reaction. However, there has already been plenty of (negative) reaction based on the information that came out last week in […]
Report: FTC Ready To Give Google Antitrust “Ultimatum”
According to a piece in the Wall Street Journal today and a parallel Bloomberg report Google faces an increasingly likely antitrust complaint unless the company steps up and offers some concessions (or additional concessions) in settlement discussions with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). According to Bloomberg, US FTC Chairman Jonathan Leibowitz is “pressing” Google to […]
Report: Google Seeks To Avoid EU’s Antitrust Wrath By “Labeling” Its Own Services
The Financial Times (FT) is reporting that the thrust of Google’s antitrust settlement proposal to European Competition Czar Joaquín Almunia primarily involves “labeling” its own services to distinguish them from other organic search results. According to the FT, citing “people familiar with the search giant’s submission”: Under the proposal, Google would put its brand on any […]
Eric Schmidt Floats Idea Of A Yahoo-Google Search Partnership
Apple, Google and mapping apps weren’t the only thing that Eric Schmidt spoke about today in Tokyo. Forbes is reporting that Schmidt also floated the idea of a Google-Yahoo search partnership. Dow Jones reporter Kenneth Maxwell was at the event, and shared this statement with Forbes: Yes, I can confirm, Eric Schmidt definitely said they’d […]
FTC Nominee Says No To Google Antitrust Action, Anti-Google Voter Survey Argues Yes
As the FTC considers whether to brand Google a “monopoly” and initiate an antitrust action against the company, it appears new FTC nominee Joshua Wright, a law professor from George Mason University, is not among those who favor it. In addition to being nominated by President Obama, Wright is supported by Senate Republican Leader Mitch […]
Google Wins Major Antitrust Victory In Brazil, Does It Foreshadow Broader EU & US Wins?
In addition to the various government antitrust investigations against Google going on around the world, there is a parallel world of private lawsuits by Google rivals and critics that make similar unfair competition or antitrust claims against Mountain View. They generally allege, among other things, that Google is unfairly referring traffic to its own “vertical […]
Eric Schmidt Tells Congress That Google Doesn’t Have ‘Separate Products & Services’
Google’s universal search results — things like videos, news, images and local business listings — aren’t “separate ‘products and services’ from Google,” according to company chairman Eric Schmidt. He makes that claim, and many others, in a lengthy written response submitted today to the U.S. Senate’s antitrust subcommittee — a required follow-up to Schmidt’s in-person […]
Guest Opinion: Is Google’s Privacy Move Really An Anti-Competitive Practice?
Fresh on the heels of a free pass from a befuddled congress after admitting that they are a monopoly, Google’s decision to cloak search query strings under the guise of privacy makes it clear they are doubling down on their abusive, anti-competitive practices. Consider the following points: Cloaking the referrer and the query string it […]
Does The FairSearch White Paper On Google Being Anticompetitive Hold Up?
FairSearch, a group of search companies including Microsoft which lobbies that Google is too dominant, has sent a white paper outlining its anti-trust concerns about Google to the 50 state attorneys general in the US. Below, a review and some fact checking of the paper. You’ll find the paper here, if you wish to read […]
Google Senate Hearings: The Post-Game Show
Earlier this morning I predicted that today’s three-hour Senate subcommittee hearing on Google and competition would be more theater than fact-finding. (You can read Danny’s live blog here and here.) And while there were lots of numbers and statistics thrown around by the witnesses (many of them inaccurate) there were few new facts; it was […]
Live Blog: Yelp, NexTag & Others At The US Senate Hearing
OK, it’s round two. And I can tell you no, don’t expect much. How do you clear the press table when Google competitors are about to testify at a Senate hearing? Have Eric Schmidt do a post-game recap in the hearing room hallway. He’s done, I’m back, will catch up as best I can. NOTE: […]
Google Expects A Black Eye At Today’s Senate Antitrust Hearing
We’re apparently not going to hear anything new at today’s Senate subcommittee hearing on Google and competition. (Danny Sullivan and Gary Price will attend and blog the live testimony.) What we’re likely going to get are very polarized views of Google and how it operates: Google the benign promoter of consumer-centric content and Google the […]