The wildly popular new internet browser released by Google, Chrome, was able to gain 1% of browser market share in its first day alone (as noted by data from Market Share).  It is common knowledge that Google essentially dominates the search market with their wide array of tools and programs, oh right…and their nearly 70% market share of web searches.  But with Chromes release to the masses, a few questions arose, mainly, how will this new browsers functionality affect search? 

One of the main features of Chrome is its omnibox, which makes recommendations for the user based on favorites, popular web pages, and most recently visited pages.  While this feature is extremely helpful and speeds up the search process, how will it affect natural search and PPC?  I do not believe that the omnibox will have much of an impact on natural search as users will more than likely still  be directed to Google search results the majority of the time (unless of course they are going directly to a URL).  Pay-per-click on the other hand, I believe will take more of a hit.  As it stands now, paid listings in Google only receive roughly 25% of the clicks (where the other 75% are for the natural listings).  With users having their results targeted and displayed for them before they even reach the search listings, paid/sponsored listings will receive less impressions, which will result in less clicks, and ultimately less conversions for those who are not ranking well naturally.

There are a few things to consider…first of course; this is all speculation on my part.  Second, Google Chrome only has a small portion of the market share, and we have seen how long it takes even for the best browsers to gain market share (Firefox…you deserve more).  Lastly, just because one form of advertising/marketing takes a hit does not mean there are not plenty of other EXTREMELY viable avenues to consider *wink**wink* SOCIAL MEDIA *wink* wink*.  I say this because yes…Chrome obviously uses Google’s algorithm for universal search (indexes blogs, forums, videos, etc.)…just sayin….but that will be for another conversation!