According to the German web platform Tuta.com, Google’s share of the global search market fell below 90% by the end of March 2025. The last time something like this happened was ten years ago, and now the effect may be long-term.
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In March 2025, Google’s share of global search traffic was 89.71%, according to Statcounter data – this figure began to decline in October 2024. The last time the Internet giant showed such a decline was in 2015. Google’s decline in the PC segment was even more significant: in May 2023, it showed a maximum value of 87.65%, after which it began to decline, and in March 2025, the company’s share set an anti-record of 79.10%. In the European region, Google is doing even worse: 87.08% in May 2023 and 77.78% in March 2025.
Given the scale of Google’s operations, each percentage point in the statistics corresponds to more than 50 million users, and the company’s loss of market share in the search market is equivalent to tens of millions of people around the world abandoning its services. There is an opinion that the issue of privacy is becoming increasingly important for Internet users – the German search service Ecosia reported a 250% increase in audience since the end of 2024.
Last year, a US federal court officially recognized Google as a monopoly in the search engine industry. The company’s actions were found to be illegal, as it paid its partners, including Apple and Mozilla, to select Google as the default search engine in their products. European authorities are also unhappy with the activities of the American tech giants: Apple and Meta✴ were fined €500 million and €200 million, respectively, for failing to comply with the requirements of the Digital Markets Act in force in the region; there is a version that Google and the social network X are next in line.