Yelp has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in federal court in San Francisco, alleging that the tech giant is using its dominant position in general search to stifle competition and maintain control over the local search and local search advertising markets. According to Yelp, Google has strayed from its mission of providing the best information to users, instead leveraging its monopoly power to favor its own services at the expense of rivals, thereby degrading the quality of search results and limiting consumer choice.
For years, Yelp has advocated for a more consumer-friendly local search experience and fair competition among vertical search services. This legal action aims to preserve competitive markets, protect consumer choices, seek damages, and prevent Google from continuing its anticompetitive practices, thereby fostering an environment where innovation can thrive.
Google’s long-standing dominance in general search—where it controls about 90% of the market—has allowed it to exert significant influence over related markets, including local search and local search advertising. This monopoly, which Google has allegedly maintained through exclusive multi-billion dollar deals with browser developers, device manufacturers, and cellular carriers, dictates what and how consumers view search results.
On desktop, around 9 billion daily Google searches are conducted, with nearly a third of those having local intent; on mobile devices, this figure increases to nearly half. When users search with local intent, Google allegedly manipulates its search results to promote its own local services over those of competitors, ignoring its own quality ranking system. Instead of competing fairly with companies like Yelp, Google’s self-preferencing practices result in an increasing number of searches that lead to zero clicks, keeping users within Google’s ecosystem. Even when users do click, 30% of the time, it leads to another Google property. Yelp argues that this behavior allows Google to siphon traffic and advertising revenue from superior vertical search services, ultimately harming consumers and competition alike.
Source: https://blog.yelp.com/news/yelp-v-google/
For years, Yelp has advocated for a more consumer-friendly local search experience and fair competition among vertical search services. This legal action aims to preserve competitive markets, protect consumer choices, seek damages, and prevent Google from continuing its anticompetitive practices, thereby fostering an environment where innovation can thrive.
Google’s long-standing dominance in general search—where it controls about 90% of the market—has allowed it to exert significant influence over related markets, including local search and local search advertising. This monopoly, which Google has allegedly maintained through exclusive multi-billion dollar deals with browser developers, device manufacturers, and cellular carriers, dictates what and how consumers view search results.
On desktop, around 9 billion daily Google searches are conducted, with nearly a third of those having local intent; on mobile devices, this figure increases to nearly half. When users search with local intent, Google allegedly manipulates its search results to promote its own local services over those of competitors, ignoring its own quality ranking system. Instead of competing fairly with companies like Yelp, Google’s self-preferencing practices result in an increasing number of searches that lead to zero clicks, keeping users within Google’s ecosystem. Even when users do click, 30% of the time, it leads to another Google property. Yelp argues that this behavior allows Google to siphon traffic and advertising revenue from superior vertical search services, ultimately harming consumers and competition alike.
Source: https://blog.yelp.com/news/yelp-v-google/
