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Nothing Lasts Forever

Over at InfoWorld, Ephraim Schwartz lays out another case for why Google is riding high on the crest of a wave, while an almost imperceptible undercurrent spells trouble for the search giant's future. That undercurrent is the niche engines that optimize specialized searches.

Schwartz throws out just a few names of engines that deliver fewer and more relevant results: ZoomInfo, WebMD, Travelocity, Orbitz, Petfinder, Kayak, Monster, and CareerBuilder. You get the picture. Schwartz compares the idea of Google becoming irrelevant to the magazine publishing industry, where general interest magazines such as "Life" and "Look" gave way to the niche.

He asks: Will Google have to trim back its search capabilities as it scales out and the company's rising infrastructure costs start to compete with what it can reasonably charge for a keyword?

Read the whole story at Reality Check »

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