Google is an innovative company that has produced many benefits for consumers with its free search technology. In turn, it has become a highly profitable enterprise with a strong market share.
It is thus very important to many companies – particularly small businesses – where they appear in Google's search rankings. They have no way of knowing how Google's technology works since the company wants to protect its competitive edge.
As a result, Google is coming under increased scrutiny from regulators, with the European Commission already making informal inquiries into the search market. As yet, there is no evidence of Google abusing its market power, but it could do so.