• TechCrunch et al., Wednesday, May 4, 2011 2:15 PM

Hinting at Google's long-term strategy, the company has quietly replaced its search product group with what it's calling a "knowledge group."

 

Sources tell TechCrunch that Google's recently reappointed CEO Larry Page is thinking about search in broader terms. Page's "goal is about more than organizing [the worlds'] information," writes TechCrunch. "It's also about enhancing people's understanding and facilitating the creation of knowledge."

"Google's no longer in the 'search' business -- it's now in the 'knowledge' business," Search Engine Land proclaims, before adding: "OK, not exactly."

"Apparently, Google is no longer content to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," according to The Los Angeles Times . "The push inside Google is focused on prioritizing higher quality content."

"In an SEC filing a couple weeks ago, Google revealed a new title for Alan Eustace: Sr. VP of Knowledge," writes Business Insider . "We remarked that would look pretty cool on a business card."

"It may be just a cosmetic change, but it does indicate that Google is thinking beyond the simple search and wants to make it clear that its search engine is more about disseminating knowledge," writes Softpedia.

In recent years, Google has expanded on search by bringing in results from vertical search engines via Universal Search, and introducing Google Squared, which structures information on the Internet. Additional "search" experiments, as TechCrunch points out, include Google Base and Google Knol.

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