Google CEO details how Chrome helped grow Google Search

Google knew as far back as 2010 that Google Chrome would help drive more Google searches. We learned some exact figures today during testimony from Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai at the ongoing U.S. vs. Google antitrust trial.

• Users who switched to Chrome from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer performed 48% more Google searches. 
• Users who switched to Chrome from Mozilla’s Firefox performed 27% more Google searches.

“The correlation was pretty clear to see,” Pichai said, CNN reported. Pichai also said, via WSJ:

• “We realized early on that browsers are critical to how people are able to navigate and use the web.”
• “It became very clear early on that if you make the user’s experience better, they would use the web more, they would enjoy using the web more, and they would search more in Google as well.”

$26.3 billion. Meanwhile, we also learned Google paid $26.3 billion to be the default search engine on various browsers, platforms and devices, with the biggest share going to Apple. That was according to testimony from Prabhakar Raghavan, a Google senior VP and head of Search, on Friday.

• Google Search made $146 billion in 2021 – so that means Google spent around 18% of its search revenue on these deals.

Europe has a choice. Since the 2020 arrival of a search choice screen Microsoft Bing has seen no positive gains in market share in Europe. As of September in Europe, according to Statcounter:

• Google: 90.87% (in the U.S., Google’s market share is lower – 88.48%)
• Microsoft Bing: 3.4% (in the U.S., Microsoft Bing’s market share is higher – 6.35%)

So yes, Google has spent $26.3 billion to be the search default everywhere it wants, Europe shows that on all platforms, where explicitly given a choice, people still overwhelmingly choose Google.

This story is developing and will be updated…