They’re the Only Game in Town
Google commands around 67% of the American search market and as much as 90% of the European market. While that’s Google isn’t technically a monopoly, it might as well be.
After all, the rest of the search market is fragmented between a bunch of other players and doesn’t offer anywhere near the same bang for your buck as Google does. The Microsoft-back Bing search engine is making an attempt at knocking Google off their throne, they’re still a long way from being a serious contender.
At this point, it would likely take a paradigm-shifting new search product – or a serious anti-trust settlement – to take Google out of the game.