everything you need to know about the Google case 🔎

Hey,

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Google’s in some deep sh*t.

If you're not caught up to speed, gather 'round and let's throw it back.

Back in 2020, while we were all losing our minds in sweatpants and getting back problems from working horizontally on the couch, the DOJ was busy suing Google for violating antitrust laws. They claimed Google illegally maintains search dominance through exclusive agreements with device manufacturers to make Chrome the default browser.

Basically, this creates a loop: Chrome drives searches to Google → Google shows ads → ad revenue fuels Google's monopolistic dominance. Capiche?

The DOJ argued this blocks competitors. Google countered that users choose them because they're better, and everyone can switch if they want.

The trial began in 2023, and in August 2024, a U.S. District Judge ruled Google was indeed a monopolist, violating antitrust laws. Last month, the Antitrust Division of the DOJ won its second monopolization case against Google.

It looks like the tech giant can probably expect more than just a slap on the wrist and a fine, but we don’t know for sure yet. The remedy phase kicks off Monday, with the government currently pushing for Google to:

• Sell off Chrome
• Disclose investments in AI startups
• Make Chrome data available to competitors

This case is a big deal for growth marketers, especially in paid search and SEO.

So to get a pulse check, I tapped a few experts for their thoughts on the potential impact here.

Last September, Growclass Mentor and New Growth Show host Tiffany DaSilva chatted with co-host Jess Joyce about what this means for SEO marketers. In their discussion, they noted that if Google shares Chrome's data with competitors, services like Bing or DuckDuckGo could evolve their algorithms to become more Google-esque.

"Our whole career has been focused on understanding the Google algorithm. We are SEOs for Google only." If competitors gain ground, this means developing new strategies with new rules—potentially changing everything.

I also spoke with Growclass alum and performance and SEO marketer Brent Stirling about implications for paid search. He expects Google to appeal, meaning this is far from over. His focus is on Chat GPT, Claude, and Perplexity, and how they’re changing user behaviour. Even if Google is forced to sell Chrome or open its search data, these AI tools may make Google irrelevant by then anyway.

While OpenAI has kept its tools ad-free for now, he sees enormous potential for them as valuable ad spaces. And with recent talk of a ChatGPT–Shopify partnership for in-chat checkouts (👀), big changes could be coming to digital commerce, and ads might come into the picture faster than we think.

So what does this mean right now? Not much yet. We still don't know what consequences the judge will impose on Google.

That said, now's a solid time to have conversations with your network about the case and to stay informed. Both Tiff and Brent suggest teams start investing in LLM Visibility Optimization (LVO) alongside traditional SEO. And if your growth depends mostly on search and rankings? Well, you're already at risk, so experiment with and diversify your acquisition channels now.

Things change fast, but us marketers move faster.

So let’s lock in.

Talk soon,

Ines

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