While Bing is making strides and Yahoo is still quite relevant, not even their combined powers have proven to be enough to loosen Google's stranglehold on the search market. The Mountain View, California-based company has been dominating the game for some time now, and it does not look like that will change for the foreseeable future. Although Bing and Yahoo are obvious competitors, some believe the real challenge for Google lies in Facebook.

Growing Relevance of Facebook Search
Many observers believe that Google is truly concerned about Facebook becoming a worthy foe in the search market. The social network's internal search feature has gone from being irrelevant, to something that has gotten much more attention in recent times. More users are relying on the feature to seek out fan pages of brands they want to interact with, and general content as well. The fact that Facebook's traditional search results are now powered by Microsoft Bing has certainly played a role in its increasing popularity.

Preparing For War?
It is currently being speculated that Google has come to see Facebook as a legitimate threat and is taking action accordingly. This is speculation that has resulted from all the updates the search company has made to its main web property. The Google search page looks much different than it did around this time last year, now serving up real-time updates from Twitter, FriendFeed, and its own social component, Google Buzz. There is also much talk about a rumored social layer that is being said to have been developed to directly compete with Facebook in the social networking pace. With both companies seemingly trying to enter each other's territory, this is one battle that might spill over into the entire web.

Google is King ... For Now
Of course anything, could happen, but it would take some major firepower for even the mighty Facebook to put a small chink in Google's armor. The prominent search company has shown that it does not mind a little competition and tends to do quite well in the time of battle. Google won the bidding war against Viacom that allowed it to snatch up YouTube for $1 billion. It also put up enough money to the tune of $750 million to outbid Apple for the acquisition of mobile advertising firm AdMob. Surprisingly enough, it even beat Microsoft to the punch by partnering up with Yahoo Japan. Google is a major player in the game, and in order for Facebook to seize the search market, it will have to make a major overhaul to its existing system.
 
If you use the previous five years as a measuring stick, then Facebook is on pace to one billion users in the next five years. That factor alone is enough for Google to take it a serious as a contender. If the social network can improve its search features and get its massive base of loyal users onboard, things could get very interesting.

About the Author: Fletcher is a best practices activist and advocate for a leading Web and permission-based email marketing solutions.