Tech

Google's Search Dominance Is Eroding

By Rob Price
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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Thanks to a partnership between Mozilla and Yahoo, Google has seen the largest drop in its share of the search market since 2009, Bloomberg reports — and amid rising tensions with Apple, further decline may be imminent.

Mozilla's Firefox web browser has historically come bundled with Google as its default search engine, but a five-year deal signed with Yahoo in November has seen Firefox automatically opting for the rival search engine instead. The result? Google's US market share has slipped to 75.2% from 79.3% — with Yahoo's up to 10.4% from 7.4%.

Bloomberg reports that Google is at its smallest share of the US web search market "since at least 2008" and, more significantly, that Yahoo is at its highest share since 2009.

StatCounter search_engine US monthly 201401 201412
StatCounter

Here's a graph showing search market share over the past year:

Firefox is used by just 12% of Americans, and as illustrated above, Google remains the undisputed search-market leader. (Thirty-seven percent of Americans use Google's Chrome browser, and another 34% use Microsoft's Internet Explorer.) Nonetheless, the news will be seen as a win for Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who has been struggling to turn the ailing internet giant around. And as The Wall Street Journal points out, this may just be the start for Google.

There are reports that Apple is considering dropping Google as its default search engine on the iPhone's Safari web browser. It's not clear what Apple might replace the search giant with, but whether Yahoo, Bing, or an in-house search, it would be a big loss for Google. The Journal reports that in December, more than half of all US mobile traffic came from Safari.

There's a precedent for this: Back in 2012, Apple replaced Google Maps with its in-house Apple Maps app. The software was terribly received and plagued with bugs — but Apple seems to have learned from its mistakes. The map data has been gradually improving, and Apple CEO Tim Cook eventually released an apology over the new app.

Cook was so angry over the Google Maps controversy that he reportedly fired a top Apple executive. If Apple is planning on ditching Google again, it's going to ensure the alternative it comes up with is up to the task.


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Reporter Rob Price sitting at a table
Rob Price
Rob Price was a senior correspondent at Business Insider, based in San Francisco. He wrote investigations and long-form features about platforms, people, and power in Silicon Valley.His stories variously led to attorney general investigations, large-scale internal reviews at major tech companies, high-profile personnel departures, citation by state and federal lawmakers, and the closure of a well-funded startup. His 2022 story on the Bitfinex hack is being adapted into a feature film, and in 2024 he received an SPJ NorCal Excellence in Journalism award for his reporting on AI and relationships.Rob's scoops and exclusive stories were cited by The New York Times, Bloomberg, the BBC, Associated Press, Reuters, CNBC, Politico, The Guardian, Axios, and many other national and international publications. His writing has also been published in or syndicated by The Washington Post, The Independent, Vice, Slate, and elsewhere, and he appeared on CNN, the BBC, CBS, Reuters, ABC Australia, and other broadcast media to discuss technology, business, and culture.He worked for Business Insider from 2015 to 2025. Prior to joining the features team, Rob covered Facebook and Silicon Valley, and before that wrote about tech business, policy, and the gig economy in London. Between September and October 2019, he was acting executive editor for Business Insider's UK bureau. He also sat on the board of directors for the San Francisco Press Club, the leading non-profit media advocacy group in the Bay Area, and was a volunteer crew member at the Marine Mammal Center, the world's largest animal hospital for marine mammals. You can contact Rob Price via email at robaeprice@gmail.com, or +1 650-636-6268 (Signal / WhatsApp / Cell). Selected stories:— They spoke out against their employer. Then they were hit with trade secrets suits.— The rise of 'shadow stand-ins'— App, Lover, Muse: Inside a 47-year-old Minnesota man's three-year relationship with an AI chatbot— Deel Speed: The inside story of a $12 billion HR startup's breakneck growth— Private islands, flying cars, and psychedelic parties: Inside the wild post-Google lives of Larry Page and Sergey Brin— 'I want your Instagram account': First came the threatening texts, followed by the SWAT teams. Then someone wound up dead.— Inside Iconiq: How Mark Zuckerberg's banker built a secret Silicon Valley empire and made billions— Gaia was a wildly popular yoga brand. Now it's a publicly traded Netflix rival pushing conspiracy theories while employees fear the CEO is invading their dreams— A drunken late-night assault allegation has roiled the secretive world of Mark Zuckerberg's private family office. Personal aides are speaking out about claims that household staff endured sexual harassment and racism from their colleagues.
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