Google’s Eric Schmidt defends the company’s search practices

It was the executive’s first time speaking on the Hill, as Google has drawn scrutiny from antitrust officials who are investigating whether the search engine giant is abusing its power.In particular, questions are being raised about whether Google has, in effect, a monopoly in the search market.

During the hearing before the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, Schmidt stressed that Google will cooperate with the Federal Trade Commission, which is investigating the company’s practices. He said that everything the company has done so far is legal and good for its customers.

Invoking Microsoft’s antitrust battles at the start of his testimony, Schmidt said that Google understands the reasons why its practices are now under the microscope.

“We get it.” he said, “We get the lessons of our corporate predecessors.”

But some lawmakers were skeptical and fired questions at the tech titan, asking whether Google gives preferential treatment to its own products.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who has battled Google in the past as a state attorney general, summed it up this way: “First you ran the racetrack, then you owned the racetrack. You own the horses now, and your horses are winning.”

Schmidt responded that the Internet is a platform and that Google is like a GPS system and doesn’t control access to the Web.

The company does, however, control its own search rankings, which were a key issue in the hearing. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) questioned whether the company was “cooking the results” to ensure that Google-related results appeared consistently in product searches.

“Senator, I can assure you we have not cooked anything,” Schmidt said.

When asked why certain Google products appear above search result lists — for example, stock quotes, driving directions or flight searches — Schmidt said that Google is growing its business to provide customers answers rather than just links in response to search queries.