Most people assume that Google’s competitors are Yahoo, Bing and other search engines. That is because Google created a business around searching for information, and they are the top site for finding information. But Amazon set out to create a business where you could search for products. The top search engine for products is Amazon, not Google.

According to Alexa.com, Amazon is the 6th most popular website in the world. But when it comes to searching products (instead of information), Amazon is the clear leader. So why do SEO companies focus on ranking in Google? Why not focus instead on ranking your products in the Amazon search? Consider these facts:

• Forrester Research found that a third of online users started their product searches on Amazon compared to 13 percent who started their search from a traditional search site; and
• comScore found that product searches on Amazon have grown 73 percent over the last year while shopping searches on Google have been flat.

These impressive statistics suggest that Google lacks market power in a critical segment of search—namely, product searches. If you are an ecommerce company, I contend that your efforts are much better spent trying to rank highly on Amazon rather than on Google. […]