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3 Search Engines That Could Replace Google
The competition highlights Google’s flaws
Google is the reference of search engines, so much so that we don’t question its efficiency and its competitors.
However, other search engines offer an interesting experience either by their philosophy or by specializing in the search field.
By looking at the relatively anecdotal competition of search engines, we can see that Google’s design choices are not necessarily the most efficient or ethical.
Questioning the efficiency of Google and its omnipresent place in our lives would not make sense. On the other hand, understanding what can be improved is useful to analyze how a product can lose market share if it does not evolve with time.
Google, the base
Google is a very efficient search engine that analyzes sites and suggests them according to their relevance. The advantage is that it works in such a way that you can almost certainly find what you are looking for as long as it is a classic resource.
The sites can pay for their referencing. Google puts forward the contents which seem relevant according to the traffic and according to what has been paid. This logic puts results in competition even if it means misleading users or burying good search results.
This is the first black spot on the platform. Google influences its users by highlighting certain content that will consequently be more read or used.
In November 2021, France ordered Google to defer the online sales site Wish. Even if the site is still accessible, the dereferencing will have a huge impact on its traffic and therefore on Wish’s turnover and on what the French will buy online.
Google has the power to influence the behavior of Internet users by proposing content that it deems appropriate. It is an ethical problem to leave so much influence on a private actor.