Report Shows Symbiotic Relationship Between Google and Amazon

A recent study explores the symbiotic relationship between Google and Amazon.

Someone looking to buy a new coffee maker on the internet may have to use the search engine. While the product search may have occurred on Google, the result usually benefit the world’s biggest retailer, Amazon.

So, it’s easy to identify the mutually-beneficial relationship between these two tech giants.

A content marketing platform, Searchmetrics wanted to explore further. So, they conducted a study that involved 10,000 keywords, which generates an Amazon-located product on Google’s first SERP.

The study didn’t include searchers with the word “Amazon.”

The researchers published their findings under the title “Amazon vs. Google: The Battle for Product Search.” And here’s the take away from the study.

Amazon Dominates the First Search Result Page on Google

The study revealed that Amazon dominates the first search result.

According to the researchers, even when the retail giant has the first search result, it still got at least one lower-level organic result for nearly half the searches. Sometimes, it was more than one.

What’s more, 10.5 percent of the product search keywords produced Google Ads listings alongside organic results. That means, the retail giant still invested in paid AdWords, despite ranking first in Google Search for many products.

But why?

According to the Searchmetrics study, Google Ads gives Amazon a dominant presence on the search engine for specific product searches.

According to the study:

“Amazon fights back against its competitors by purchasing a large number of AdWords itself, even when it has the top free result.”

How dominant is Amazon on the search engine? The answer is very dominant.

About 56 percent of the keyword from the study produced Shopping Ads, and Amazon is the top organic result here. Furthermore, the retail giant’s result appeared for nearly 33.3 percent of the Google Shopping box result.

The retail giant dominated product images too.

For example, when Amazon has the top result for a coffee maker, the retailer’s image will also appear when Google shows images. And that’s about 44 percent of the time. Also, related videos appear nearly 35 percent of searches.

What does Google get from the relationship, you ask? Income.

Google generates revenue from selling Adwords. Meanwhile, Amazon is paying for listings even though it already owns the most relevant organic results on the search engine.