An Ultimate Guide on Swot Analysis of Google

SWOT analysis analyses the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that a business faces. It is a framework used to analyse a company’s competitive position and plan strategies for the business. SWOT analysis considers all the internal and external factors that affect a company.

Google is one of the largest companies globally; it is a search engine that is most commonly used by people all around the world, as it gathers and organises information present on the web clearly and concisely.

In 1998 in California, USA, two mates, Larry Page and Serge Brin, founded Google. The youngsters started this great company as a research project for their studies at Stanford University. Since October 2, 2015, Mr Sundar Pichai has been the chief executive officer of Google.

Strengths 

• Google has more than 94% of the market share in the internet searches done worldwide.
• No competitors have reached the level of Google; the most competition Google received was from the search engine Bing with 5.56% of the market share.
• According to Forbes magazine, Google is one of the most valuable brands in the world. It is in the second position; Apple holds the first position.
• The brand value of Google as of 2022 is $263.4 billion.
• Every day billions of searches are done on Google per second. Google has the perfect and biggest traffic generator, and this is why the searches done on Google are so smooth for the users.
• As of March 2022, Google has a revenue of 6.8 TCr because of its successful advertising campaigns.
• Google is easily adaptable to the software android technologies, which gives it an edge over its competitors.
• Google has grown and progressed at a very high rate. Due to this, the company currently has around 130,000 employees compared with the year 2001, when mere 300 people were employed at Google.

Weaknesses

• Google’s revenue is based on advertisements, which can prove to be a problem for the company’s revenue as the advertisement space is unpredictable.
• Google and Youtube were boycotted by major brand advertisers, like Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal, and BBC, because they discovered that their ads were being shown beside extremist and hate-filled content on the web. This resulted in bad press for both these leading companies.
• Google tried to have a monopoly, and it was sued because it attempted to collaborate with Apple to make Google the default search engine in Apple’s browser.
• Google keeps all its algorithms and formulas a top-secret, so many experts have accused Google of hiding.
• Google now has many competitors in the social media domain because now Google is not the only way to access news of the world.
• Google’s pricing strategies are quite high. Google has raised its Youtube subscription price, whereas competitors like Netflix, Hotstar and Disney offer unique content at lower prices.

Opportunities

• Providing the Android operating system has made Google the primary competitor of Apple and Samsung.
• Trying to expand the business and generate non-ad revenues, which can be made possible with Google Books, Google Drive, Google Maps, and many more.
• Google Glass is a new way for the company to advance its reach in the market. 
• Google Play is also one of the gen-Z technologies that can help Google set trends in the market.
• Cloud computing, which refers to storing files in the cloud, is made available for users of Google. This option can be further explored by converting it into a means of income for Google, for example, charging fees to store files.

Threats

• A sharp decline has been noticed in the market shares of Google due to the increase in competitors like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram.
• Google received criticism over the allegations that it collaborated with China on Dragonfly’s search engine project.
• The censorship policy of Google is not ideal and has received severe criticism.
• Google has been used as a means to abuse children and people in general online; this has earned Google bad publicity over the years.
• Technology giants have advised Google to remove its encryption technologies, and if Google does so, then it will lose its Unique Selling Point, which will result in it losing its customers.

SWOT Analysis of Google Pay

Google Pay is an app that enables its users to make cashless transactions in their day-to-day lives. It is the easiest and fastest way to make payments.

Conclusion

Google was founded by Larry Page and Serge Brin in 1998 in California, USA; currently, Google’s CEO is Mr Sundar Pichai. Google has progressed by leaps and bounds, and its fast growth rate is one of the reasons for its massive success in the business world. Google is no longer a go-to platform for news about world affairs, as many social media apps have captured some of that market share. Due to this, the market shares of Google have dropped since competitors have become stronger. The SWOT analysis of Google company shows that Google is a widespread search engine that is highly profitable for the company, but it still has a few weaknesses and threats that can hamper its growth.