Google’s search dominance is unwinding

A version of this story appeared in CNN Business’ Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free, here.

Google (GOOG) is so synonymous with its core product that its name is a verb that means “search.” Yet Google’s dominance of that market is shrinking.

For the first time in decades, Google next year will not control a majority of the US search market, according to a forecast by advertising research firm eMarketer.

Google will remain the biggest search player, maintaining a 48% share of American search advertising revenue. And Google is still growing its sales in the space, amazingly, considering it has been dominant in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. But Amazon is growing faster.

Amazon next year will control nearly a quarter of US search ad dollars — a figure that will grow to 27% in 2026, while Google slips even further, eMarketer predicted.