Ads and search are the two businesses that most directly collude and which could both survive and thrive independently.
If the search business worked with other ad networks to maximize their revenue, while the ad business worked with other search engines, we’d likely see higher quality search results, less confusion about what’s an ad versus a result, and better as rates for buyers.
That said I don’t support that remedy at all. Maybe ten or fifteen years ago, but now it’s too late and the market is evolving around Google. IMO a consent decree that they won’t pay anyone for exclusive search placement is sufficient.
> Ads and search are the two businesses that most directly collude and which could both survive and thrive independently.
I'm skeptical that search is viable as an independent business at scale. I know DDG is making a go of it, but the business only has to pay a single salary.
I’m skeptical that Google search contains any search results. So maybe that part of their business is already dead and they just need an honest rebranding to ad search.
> I’m skeptical that Google search contains any search results. So maybe that part of their business is already dead and they just need an honest rebranding to ad search.
I don't know about you, but I remember the time before Google where search engines openly offered paid search listings.
Google's search quality has declines over the years, but I don't think we're at the point you're talking about yet.
I'm skeptical of us ever being able to run the required real world experiment to prove your point of view without Google being broken up and search split out as it's own thing.
My point being...of course it isn't viable right now given ... Google exists and has a stranglehold over that market...
The whole point of breaking Google up though is to make what isn't currently viable, viable.
Why wouldn’t Google search be viable if it could negotiate rates with multiple ad networks? IMO there would be more net revenue generated from competition in the ad space.
1. Doesn’t that bring us back to a monopoly? One dominant seller of ad space with many buyers? Do we just recursively split out the ad sales and then ask search to sell ads?
2. Why is everyone here so convinced that ad rates will go up with this structure? Isn’t part of the reason for Google’s conviction that they are charging too much for ads?
Personally, I think Search should be a public, not private, effort. Indexing the internet should be a global endeavor beneficial to world governments in unison. The issue is that the potential for censorship is rife, but I think including many govs on a board might solve this.
Google has already specifically deranked Russian government media and media promoting the lab leak theory during COVID. Obviously China would require the index to exclude any mention of Tiananmen Square. If it's anything like the UN, Jerusalem Post will be deranked in favor of Al Jazeera on every search relating to the Middle East.
I just think it's a complete non-starter for any government to allow foreign governments to decide everything your citizens see. If they don't bow to your brand of censorship, you're going to pull out.
Splitting ads and search is a nonstarter. Ads on the search page are very different from ads on other pages since search ads can leverage information retrieved during the search. Ads on other pages have to use contextual or remarketing signals, with much poorer results.
I don’t think I follow. Whatever the technical integration between Google search and Google ads, why could it not be done with multiple, competing ad networks?
If the search business worked with other ad networks to maximize their revenue, while the ad business worked with other search engines, we’d likely see higher quality search results, less confusion about what’s an ad versus a result, and better as rates for buyers.
That said I don’t support that remedy at all. Maybe ten or fifteen years ago, but now it’s too late and the market is evolving around Google. IMO a consent decree that they won’t pay anyone for exclusive search placement is sufficient.