Why Google Search will NOT rule the Universe!

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Why am I not surprised? More trash.

Back in the early days, when Google was bashing advertising-supported search engines, they were specifically referring to situations where actual search results were the advertisements... the highest bidder was the number one search result... the number two bidder, the second search result, and so on. I remember those days. You could search for "frog" and the top result might be something like, "Frog Leg Online Casino! Double Your Money Now!" The search engines quickly became entirely irrelevant.

Google fought against this by creating an algorithm to sort results based on web popularity, not payments. Then, later, they adopted advertising ON THEIR PAGES, but not posing AS RESULTS. They also adopted a philosophy that insisted that even the paid advertisements needed to be RELEVANT to the query. In other words, even an advertisement such as "Frog Leg Online Casino! Double Your Money Now!" would not appear for a search for "frog".

So, the problem with search engines way back in the day was that you either ended up with poor results (HotBot, Web Crawler)... or with decent results, but lots of flashy and often-times unrelated ads (Yahoo). The other problem with Yahoo at the time was the fact that their "search engine" was actually more of a searchable "directory". All website entries were managed by hand. It took months before a new website could be entered by hand by their staff. Which is why Yahoo teamed up with Google to provide Google's search results as "supplemental" results to searches on Yahoo. It turned out that Google's results were more relevant than Yahoo's, so people started turning to "the source"... Google. It was later that Google allowed advertising on its website, but it held very rigid standards regarding the placement (advertisements would never be disguised as results) and look (advertisements would always be labeled as such.)

Fast forward many years, and this hasn't changed. Sure, you could complain about the changes that took place, as if Google is somehow not allowed to change with the times. But, in reality, Google has ALWAYS changed. Take a look at the WayBackMachine, and you will see how Google's logo changed from the very early years. They also used to have tabs instead of plain-text links. The tabs were changed to links, and the text box moved up. Google has always been about changing... growing... getting better. But some things haven't changed... like the fact that if you want to rank #1 in the search results, you simply have to create a RELEVANT WEBSITE. Or, if you want to PAY to attract attention, you can pay for advertising... but it will be clearly labeled as such. AND, your advertising must be relevant to what the searchers are looking for. In these aspects, Google has remained constant.

And now, we end up where Google was meant to be all along. Not just a "web" search engine... but an "information" search engine. Information isn't just confined to HTML web pages. It can be found in books, in videos, in the news, on blogs, in images, etc, etc, etc... So rather than forcing the user to have to know WHAT MEDIUM their answer lies in, Google's algorithms are making their best guess. A search for a place might show a map of the place. A search for an animal might show a picture of the animal. A search for artificial intelligence might show a video of a lecture on the topic of AI. A search for "frog" might show a few pages from a book that talks about frogs. The goal is to find what the searcher is looking for, no matter what medium the most relevant information might be found in.

So, I don't see what the fuss is all about, except for the fact that you rarely have anything nice to say about Google, unless your intention is to just spin it around into something negative. I would respect your opinion more if it weren't so one-sided. A positive Google article here, a negative Google article there, then I could get the feeling that you are honest and factual. One negative Google article after another, and you just sound like a drone with an agenda. I would assume that by all of the negativity towards Google, you don't use their search engine. Perhaps you use Yahoo, because they would be my second choice (they used to be my first choice.) If so, then why so many articles about Google? Is it just for the attention? It's ironic to think that all of the attention you DO get is probably from searches ON Google.com. It's too bad the search engine you bash is likely the one that draws you the biggest audience.

I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you use Google as a search engine. Maybe you prefer their algorithms. Maybe you are just concerned that they are headed in a direction that you'd prefer, as a user, they didn't head in. Then, tell me, how would YOU make a better search engine? How would YOU make it more relevant? How would YOU suggest it try to find the answer that a searcher is looking for? Would you suggest that it be comprised of many search verticals that never share data? Would you suggest that a search for "Anna Nicole Smith" should only throw up websites about Anna Nicole Smith that may be 3 years old, completely ignoring the news websites out there which may have recent articles about her? Would you suggest a search for "Mona Lisa" should only link to websites that discuss the Mona Lisa, but not throw up an image or two of the famous painting?

You suggest that Google Search will NOT rule the Universe because they advertise? Because they integrate their data and make it more accessible from one place? You tell me, then, when are Live.com or Yahoo! or Ask.com going to remove all of their advertisements? When are they going to create separate search engines for each possible type of medium in the world, and then never allow any of them to link to one another? Is that your idea of a perfect search engine? If so, I would certainly hope that you represent a minority in the world, because that is not how I want to see the future of search engines. To me, the search engine of the future is one that can anticipate what I am looking for based on what I type, and will give me accurate results in whatever mediums are most appropriate. This is why I am very glad about the direction Google is headed. If seeing relevant and clearly marked advertisements is necessary to keep it a FREE service, I welcome it. More power to the advertisers who are essentially only people... just trying to earn a living in their respective professions... trying to get the attention of people who might be searching for their product or service. Google News led me to your article. I hope it continues to give you a purpose.

Posted by: BIGELLOW   Posted on: 05/17/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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