WebProNews

In theory, any company should be able to compete with Google on search. Yet Google owns some two-thirds of the queries made in the US search engine market.

Scenarios where another search site gains enough share at Google's expense don't present themselves readily to us. People use Google for search, and keep on using it.

Jupiter Research considered the question of why Google has no real competition in search. Sorry Yahoo, Microsoft, and everyone else, the numbers are what they are.

But the apparent barriers to entry that David Schatsky discussed shouldn't keep any site from competing handily with Google. Why they don't remains a mystery, with one suggestion by Schatsky's colleague Emily Riley hinting at search optimization being part of the issue:

The kind of benefits that accrue to incumbent market makers like eBay are somewhat weaker in search. After all, a lack of advertisers shouldn’t necessarily make a search engine less appealing to users, who are more sensitive to organic results and performance. Emily points out, though, that the relevance of Google's organic results may benefit in part by all of the SEO benefits that focus on them--a level of focus they attract because of their market leadership.

Webmasters want to be in Google because the traffic is there. Searchers wish to use Google as they know the content will be there. All in all, a nice circle of supply and demand, tailored to suit Google best, keeps it at the top of the search engine world.