Irrespective of whatever reservations some may harbour about Google’s increasing pervasiveness, the significant majority of internet users – at least English speakers – use Google as their search engine of choice.
And the reason is simple – it’s so damn good.
Unless Google screws up & drops the ball (like Alta Vista did years ago) or something better emerges (unlikely), few of us would stop using Google. However you may soon find that when go to make online searches your computer mysteriously starts using Yahoo rather than Google. This is because Yahoo has struck a 3 year deal with Oracle which means next time your computer does one those frequent Java updates you could inadvertently approve it switching your default search engine to Yahoo. To avoid this annoyance you’ll need to actively opt out, meaning many will unwittingly be tricked into installing Yahoo.
When users download Java this screen appears with the option pre-checked to set Yahoo as their browser’s default homepage and search engine
Why should you care?
There’s a reason Google has far greater market share than Yahoo, & it’s not because of better marketing. It’s simply much better & so you’ll be understandably fed up if a Java update surreptitiously switches you to Yahoo – unless that’s a conscious choice on your part. So next Java update pay careful attention to pre-filled check boxes.
Yahoo – tricking people is not clever marketing!
The latest news about web marketing, SEO, PPC Advertising & Web Analytics. But only the stuff that matters from a New Zealand perspective. Click here to get this delivered to your inbox each Monday.
If you found this useful, please tell your friends.
Jeremy and Mark are two of the partners behind SureFire Search. Despite their deceptively youthful appearances, both have worked in search marketing for many years. To put that in context, Google didn't even exist when Jeremy started.
Google fights back against Amazon
18 Dec, 2017The Ultimate Job? Google NZ is looking for a Country Manager
04 Dec, 2017What they said about Amazon in 1999
27 Nov, 2017Does strong Search performance correlate to Retail Success?
13 Nov, 2017The Ethical Digital Marketing Community
06 Nov, 2017Measuring mobile site speed using Google Lighthouse
24 Oct, 2017So you want to be a YouTube video star
16 Oct, 2017Content tips from Google’s own style guides
09 Oct, 2017AdWords Advertisers See Red