Since the introduction of Google Shopping in Australia, there has been concern and speculation that it would completely overshadow comparison shopping engines. Wai Hong Fong’s article in “SEO for Start-ups” shares his opinion that Google Shopping will soon override all comparison shopping engines, but in our opinion, this is not going to happen. Comparison search engines will not be threatened for many reasons.
Since the launch of Google Shopping, there has not been a dramatic decline in visitors to comparison search engines. Data provided by Compete.com shows that search engines haven’t shown any difference in visitors to their sites because of the launch of Google Shopping. There’s no denying that Google Shopping provides more competition for comparison search engines but this doesn’t mean that they don’t stand a chance.
Each comparison search engine is unique in its own way, which means they do not provide all the same products, brands, or information. Instead, many of them may be more specific to travel or to sports equipment, for example. Others may encompass a wide range products and brands.
Comparison search engines are used in order to educate consumers about the products they’re looking for and provide them with all the different retailers that are selling them online. Every comparison search engine has its own way of obtaining and ultimately supplying this information to consumers.
Some search engines don’t give consumers the chance to browse the product information past product and price, which doesn’t give them all of the information that they may be seeking. While others provide price, product, details, reviews, and more that provides consumers with the totality of information they may be looking for about a certain product.
There will continue to be competition on the Internet but for now comparison search engines are not threatened by Google Shopping. As long as they continue to provide accurate and updated prices and products on their sites from a multitude of merchants, they will continue to be successful.
