Great post, I've started to talk about this myself as well. Yahoo!s Search Monkey and BOSS will definitely help bring a change in this space.
Aseem Kishore
· 1 year ago
Sheraz - I hope it brings about a healthier competition into text search, right now it's just too dominated.
Kevin - I think you make an excellent point. I agree that if a new search engine is to come out and do well, it's going to be something that is not related to text.
Visual search, like you mentioned and audio search are definitely areas that need major improvements. I don't see why more people are not focusing on those areas rather than going after the big dogs with mediocre results.
Though I have to disagree that even if there is a much better method to "how" we search, the actual results would need to be just as good as Google's to get people to actually switch over...
Neyma Jahansooz
· 1 year ago
Discussing this same subject over and over, many will miss the point of the matter which is that Google cannot be beat at her own game. It has and will have the dominance in its niche- which is large scale computer indexing of web content.
What most are missing is that this is NOT the only method of search. The company that is truly the Google Killer will not try to beat google at her own game, rather they will vertically integrate from Google. meaning taking the data that Google collects and filters with AI and providing compelling toolsets that allows swarms of humans to better organize this data for consumption by other humans. When this is accomplished, Google will still be master at what it does, but in the grand scheme of the 'gathering information market' - will just be but a tool used by the populace who are populating the true and useful search results.
This is what we are doing at YouBundle.
That is what we are doing at least. Stay tuned.
Chris
· 1 year ago
First, I would like to say great article. I like the second part where you break down the best ways to compete with a search engine like Google. Many of the pieces that I've been reading have lacked substance beyond the very bare bones of what Cuil is. Thanks for putting together cohesive arguments that really draw a reader in.
Cuil is definitely going for it, but it's hard to imagine them doing anything but incremental changes to what Google's done. And even that would take years of effort.
Me.dium.com has taken a different tack. We have a full web index, but we change the results based on the surfing activity of our user base (now over 2,000,000). It's in alpha, but I'd be curious to hear your thoughts. http://me.dium.com/search
Jeremiah
· 1 year ago
Great article. Agree with Chris that you're one of few to dip beneath the surface of this. Point #3 is especially useful - a search startup can be nimble and experiment where Google cannot. I will remember this point more broadly.
MGA
· 1 year ago
Thank you so much for the posting. You described it very well. Unfortunately, we need another search engine that can compete with Google as soon as possible. Everybody is irritated with their dominance. Not sure how it should look like but i am totally agree with you on your last expectation: Be innovative!!!
ChrisCD - CD Rates Blog
· 1 year ago
Too bad, those with the ideas don't join up and create the new beast.
We all want something "better" than google [although they have been quite profitable for us], but can't seem to figure out a way to join up in cyberspace and get 'er done.
My idea would be to initially harness the indexes of the big 3, but provide much more data on the first page, either with a vertical or horizonal output. Also, the ranking would rotate much more. I believe there are many pages with good info in the 30s to 40s, but they just don't know how to or have the time to optimize it. So if you get 30 to 40 results on the first page, with placements rotating, you give much more exposure to other sites. The algo would give "credit" for a job well done, and still give those sites that do optimize, etc, etc, higher placements, more often.
Who is with me? What do you think? If you don't want to wait for me, and go create it all by yourself, just give me credit and some share of the revenue.
Kirk
· 1 year ago
Couldn’t agree more with number six!
Do Something Different. That is the key.
There is a new start up called Sightix that is doing Social Search – looking at the world and allowing you to search for information through your network of friends – basically its like asking your friends – but only faster and without the hassle.
They have created a new concept “People Rank†as opposed to Google’s “Page Rank†and are offering their solution to social networks. It helps the users find the information that their friends have posted, recommended or know something about.
Looks like there is a new prince vying for the throne of the search kings…
All Comments
Kevin - I think you make an excellent point. I agree that if a new search engine is to come out and do well, it's going to be something that is not related to text.
Visual search, like you mentioned and audio search are definitely areas that need major improvements. I don't see why more people are not focusing on those areas rather than going after the big dogs with mediocre results.
Though I have to disagree that even if there is a much better method to "how" we search, the actual results would need to be just as good as Google's to get people to actually switch over...
What most are missing is that this is NOT the only method of search. The company that is truly the Google Killer will not try to beat google at her own game, rather they will vertically integrate from Google. meaning taking the data that Google collects and filters with AI and providing compelling toolsets that allows swarms of humans to better organize this data for consumption by other humans. When this is accomplished, Google will still be master at what it does, but in the grand scheme of the 'gathering information market' - will just be but a tool used by the populace who are populating the true and useful search results.
This is what we are doing at YouBundle.
That is what we are doing at least. Stay tuned.
Cuil is definitely going for it, but it's hard to imagine them doing anything but incremental changes to what Google's done. And even that would take years of effort.
Me.dium.com has taken a different tack. We have a full web index, but we change the results based on the surfing activity of our user base (now over 2,000,000). It's in alpha, but I'd be curious to hear your thoughts. http://me.dium.com/search
We all want something "better" than google [although they have been quite profitable for us], but can't seem to figure out a way to join up in cyberspace and get 'er done.
My idea would be to initially harness the indexes of the big 3, but provide much more data on the first page, either with a vertical or horizonal output. Also, the ranking would rotate much more. I believe there are many pages with good info in the 30s to 40s, but they just don't know how to or have the time to optimize it. So if you get 30 to 40 results on the first page, with placements rotating, you give much more exposure to other sites. The algo would give "credit" for a job well done, and still give those sites that do optimize, etc, etc, higher placements, more often.
Who is with me? What do you think? If you don't want to wait for me, and go create it all by yourself, just give me credit and some share of the revenue.
Do Something Different. That is the key.
There is a new start up called Sightix that is doing Social Search – looking at the world and allowing you to search for information through your network of friends – basically its like asking your friends – but only faster and without the hassle.
They have created a new concept “People Rank†as opposed to Google’s “Page Rank†and are offering their solution to social networks. It helps the users find the information that their friends have posted, recommended or know something about.
Looks like there is a new prince vying for the throne of the search kings…