Reinventing search now could break Google's monopoly in the future

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The internet turns 53 this year, and it's been deeply shaped by big tech companies, including my former employer, Google.

As the Internet moves into middle age, Google currently controls an incredible amount of access to information on the Internet around the world. Users around the world seem to be constantly served with "free content"; however, there are hidden charges for this content served by a company that has over 90% market share.

Google's success in Search Advertising, along with its relentless focus on promoting web advertising, has created a toxic web environment in which everything what we do is monitored. What we do in a search and even beyond is packaged and used for advertising purposes, and it is extremely difficult to distinguish what is genuine and trustworthy from what is attention-grabbing and misleading.

But research doesn't have to be that way. Consumers and businesses can benefit from a tailored web experience that provides genuinely useful search answers, not advertisers selling the wares they want to unload today.

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Here's how we're reinventing web search.

Subscription services have undoubtedly benefited from the pandemic. People have been signing up to Netflix, Disney+ and more in droves. Meanwhile, premium publishers have moved the majority of their content behind a paywall. People have become accustomed to subscription services because they extend not only to entertainment, but also to fitness classes, home cooking kits, software, skin care – the list goes on. The takeaway from the growth of the subscription economy: Users want products to give them the best possible experience, not a personality created by Google based on their shopping preferences.

Searching the web should be no different. After all, it's how we access knowledge, and it informs our opinions.

A search subscription model would make ads redundant. With no advertisers to satisfy, the focus shifts to users, which means businesses can focus on improving the accuracy and intuitiveness of search experiences. Users pay a small monthly fee in return for unbiased search results and a product where privacy becomes a de facto foundation; which is good news for everyone.

However, moving to a large-scale subscription model and eradicating search ads is certainly not without challenges. That's why Google still has a monopoly on web search today. But neither is it a dystopian future beyond our reach.

One of the biggest hurdles to making a subscription-based search model a reality is making it easy for users to switch to an alternative.

Users deserve real choice, and competitors deserve fair and equitable market access, not the bare minimum that Google says will pass regulatory scrutiny. For example, Android's "choice" screen is only updated once a year and actively buries alternatives with ad-supported Google clones. And even as users research and find alternatives, monopolies like Google abuse their market share to implement anti-competitive practices such as misleading prompts and shady schemes to entice users back into walled gardens.

And just as the alternatives don't compete on equal terms for awareness and choice among potential users, they also come up against the buzzsaw of