Google to attack online travel agencies in 2012

Tuesday, 3 January 2012

Google to attack online travel agencies in 2012

by Marc Pinter-Krainer

Google Flight Search set to threaten online travel agents such as Expedia and Kayak

Internet search giant Google has rolled out a new product, Google Flight Search, in an effort to get a share of the $110 billion-per-year online travel market.

Powered by ITA Software, which Google acquired last year, the new Flight Search results appear at the top of Google's pages when searching for flights such as "SF to NYC".

Google Flight Search results appear at the top of the search engine's result pages, displacing incumbent competitors' matches

Search Advantage
Starting in December 2011, Google began placing its Flight Search results prominently above links to major online travel agents such as Expedia, Orbits, Kayak, FareCompare and Priceline.com.

These online travel agencies are worried because hitherto around 20-30 percent of their traffic – and revenues – originated from Google. However, with the prominent placement of Google's own Flight Search at the lucrative top spot on search results pages, this traffic is set to decrease substantially - in favour of Google.

Many online travel industry providers are now concerned that Google is abusing its dominant market position in search to effectively squeeze them out of the market. They say Google is violating its promise to use its new Flight Search function to send more traffic to online agencies as well as airlines.

Anti-trust investigations
Google is already facing scrutiny for the way its own services appear in its search results - with investigations by competition authorities on both sides of the Atlantic underway.

According to a report in The Financial Times, the European Commission was examining claims that Google "downgrades some rival websites in its search results, while playing up its own services".

In the U.S., two senators called on the Federal Trade Commission last month to investigate whether Google was exploiting the fact it had a majority of both search via PC and mobile devices.

"A key question is whether Google is using its market power to steer users to its own web products or secondary services and discriminating against other websites with which it competes," Senators Herb Kohl and Mike Lee wrote.

Obscure search penalties
Another aspect of the all-important ranking of search results includes Google's obscure search penalties which often appear to be applied to websites "accidentally". The search engine currently provides no explanation or any reasonable appeals process for concerned website owners. Information about a campaign for greater transparency surrounding search penalties - spearheaded by One News Page - can be found on the "Have I been penalized..?" website.

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