The Privacy-First Competitors of Google

Google has dominated the ranks of search engines for decades now and shows no signs of slowing down. However, continuous slams about privacy issues and antitrust cases might soon prove to be the bane of its existence, carving out an area for competitors claiming to be privacy-first to fill in and take over. This blog further explores the privacy-first competitors of Google.

Back in late 2019- early 2020, a giant controversy hit Google stating that it had violated the privacy of users browsing in private mode by tracking and analyzing their personal identities. This led to an uproar of suits and legal actions by the Department of Justice. Some of the latest allegations about Google stemmed from a suspicion that they leveraged their clear lead in digital marketing and search at the cost of their competitors.

These competitors are eager to displace Google, and they’re not patient enough to await the results of a legal battle that has the potential of being stretched out. Many search engines that claim to be “privacy-first”, an arena that Google apparently lacks in, are gearing for an attack. Here we’ll be discussing two of the privacy-first competitors of Google, and delving deeper into Google’s data issue.

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo (DDG) is quite possibly the first in the race to oust Google from its throne. It is still not a widely known search engine, but it is gaining momentum quite fast. This internet firm based in Pennsylvania states Google’s mishap in its private browsing feature which is the main topic of the Google Incognito Lawsuit. It perseveres that if Google really did intend to retain its users’ privacy, it would have ditched its business model centered around surveillance by now.

What sets DDG apart from Google is that it doesn’t gather data from its users for profiling and personalization. What it does instead is it collects information from more than 400 sources like Bing, the DuckDuckBot, Wikipedia, and WolframAlpha.

People can opt to set it as their default search engine on computers, laptops, and mobile browsers. DuckDuckGo also has an extension that users can add to Google Chrome.

They advertise using keywords, which is a concept digital marketers know all too well, and don’t analyze personal data and identity to bring results. It states that search results and ads should be based on “keywords, not people.”

Neeva Search Engine

Neeva is an infant in the race to beat Google, but it might catch up to speed soon, given that its creators are pioneers in the field of search engines. They hail from no less than Google and YouTube, with one of the cofounders, Sridhar Ramaswamy, being the head of Google’s lucrative advertising division. He has proposed a revolutionary new idea that is sure to be appealing to browsers: search without ads.

How Are Privacy-First Search Engines Changing The Game?

They haven’t gone so far as to completely dethrone Google, as they’re still starting off and are very small. They’ll have to split their shares between the minority of people that aren’t keen on using Google.

They can get bigger though. When Google’s privacy concerns become a legitimate source of trust issues for most of the world’s population, their interest will drop and these competitors get a chance to shine.

Consumers are fond of personalized ads when they believe in the brand looking through their data, but this changes when their trust is gone. It’s always privacy over personalization for everyone, and for search engines like DuckDuckGo and Neeva that realize this, the lawsuit against Google is especially advantageous.

What Data Is Collected By Google?

Some personal information gathered by Google include :

Your location on Google Maps and the history of your location

What you watch on YouTube

What You search on Google

Your online purchasing habits and budget

Your behavior while browsing

These data are analyzed and used to build a profile of you, so as to send you personalized advertising and recommendations.

How Digital Marketing Looks Without Google

The aforementioned lawsuit against Google might take about a year to conclude. Within this year all its competitors will make the most of the time to build their brand to propose to consumers. You would be right then, to expect a completely different look for the future of digital marketing without Google.

Contextual targeting will be used more than individual targeting, and it’s done by placing ads on a page according to what a page contains rather than personalization.

A user has a choice of whether they want to use cookies and signals which may put a limit on what kinds of advertisements will reach them.

In conclusion, it’s hard to predict what exactly will happen, but it’s certain that massive changes will take place for which it’s best for digital marketers to be prepared.

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